Aria, Honorary Apprentice
by Raider1472
Summary: I really hope you guys decide to read this, because it's difficult to write. I mean, how do you say, "Oh yeah, by the way, I was Halt's apprentice, but I was such a dismal failure, that they didn't accept me as Ranger." Where do you even go from there?
1. In Medias Res

In Medias Res

"Honestly? Is that really your best effort? A squirrel could have done better, and they have complete disregard for everything," Halt popped up from behind me and growled. I was trying my best to follow his trail. Normally, no one would ever be able to find Halt, but he had to give me a few simple clues.

"At least I'm trying, Halt!" I stormed off of his path and leaned against a tree, muttering angrily.

"Trying?" he questioned incredulously, and followed me. "I heard at least twelve sticks snap. Watch your footing!"

"My footing?" I repeated. "I'd swear if my word carried any weight. I didn't step on a single stick!"

Halt scoffed, and retraced my steps. "You're right," he said softly.

"Halt, I promise I didn't…" I told him, my voice rose in pitch. "Wait, what?"

"You…are…right," he pronounced each word slowly with care. We stood in silence for a few moments and I shifted my feet nervously when Halt yelled, "STOP!" I froze in place, after my initial jump. "Did you hear it?" he asked softly.

"Hear what?" I replied.

"The stick," Halt said curtly and glared at the forest floor. He gestured for me to move aside and I moved a few paces away. He impatiently frowned, and I looked at the fallen foliage. "There isn't any stick," he said softly. I looked up at him... "It's you."

I stood on the front porch to Halt's cabin, cowering as he yelled.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked loudly.

"Tell you what? There is nothing to tell," I lied, trying to sound convincing.

"Your ankles!" he erupted. I don't even think Will ever saw him this mad, much less Lilly. "Every time you move them, they sound like a bloody twig!" He continued to yell at me and paced back and forth, his hands clenching around his bow. I was afraid he was going to stick me with an arrow any moment.

"How long?" he asked quietly, suppressing further rage.

"Since forever," I replied downcast, tears welled in my eyes. Since the day in the forest, I recalled a few days from my childhood. I was able to vaguely pick up the sound. I guess I had simply blocked it out.

"Damn it all to hell!" was his sharp reply and he went inside, leaving me on the porch, drowning in my sadness.

I grew up near Castle Redmont, and lived with my parents and my four younger siblings. Although, we are accustomed to the comings and goings of the fief, we only found out three years ago that we were related to Evan and Lilly. Our meeting involved a goose, pitch, a watermelon, and one of my mother's bonnets, truly a story for another day.

Evan and I are the same age, fifteen, and Lilly is twenty-two. She was Will's apprentice until two years ago. Although Lilly was the first female Ranger, seven more have joined the corps, including me, but I am still just an honorary member, (thanks for the reminder Halt.) Will and Alyss stop by the Halt's cabin often (thankfully) and sometimes bring Connor, their young son. He is ADORABLE! He has Will's hair and Alyss' height and eyes. We are all proud of his new walking abilities, but we have to keep a constant watch on him. He has some odd attachment to certain bugs.

Connor's youth is a comfort, but I never would've known him if Lilly hadn't brought two certain cloaked strangers to dinner six months ago…

My name is Aria and this is my story.


	2. Preperation

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. Editing took me a while. **

**Reviews: Tejana: Thanks for all you help. I really appreciate it.**

**Nette: I'm glad you like it!**

**Muha: Wish Granted.**

**Oakleaf Ranger: Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

"Are Lilly and Evan really coming?" I asked my mother for at least the fifth time that day. Lilly and Evan don't stop by often, so anytime they do it it a real treat. Evan helps Sir Rodney teach the newest apprentices, while training alongside the elder ones. His early training with Horace helped him get a jump start. Most of the time though, he stays with Ulf, tending to and training the horses.

Lilly is Ranger for one of the other fiefs, I don't know which, and quite busy with her duties. Even though we pry, she won't tell us. Ranger secrets... I guess. Apparently though she's 'together' with some other Ranger... Mark, I think his name is. I've only seen him once. Oh! And Evan sees Maria Moreau quite a bit. I don't know if you've heard of her, but they are very cute together.

Basically, the point I'm trying to get across here, is that anytime they decide to visit, it's a real treat.

"Yes Aria! Now stop pestering me and go find one of your brothers to get some kindling!" my mother scolded and I laughed then headed outside.

We live by the woods and I absolutely love it. My father is a carpenter, so the location is helpful to him and his job. My brothers help him, but when they aren't I can always find them somewhere in the forest.

"Jake! Where are you?" I called into the trees loudly.

(For future reference, I am the oldest of my siblings, Jake comes after me, followed by Clarissa, then Austin, and lastly Scott. Yeah, I have a lot of brothers.)

"Where do you think?" Jake replied snidely reply from the tree above me. I sighed and glared up at him. He was nestled in the branched against the trunk, appearing to doze.

"You know I hate it when you do that," I told him

"Which gives me all the more reason to continue," he opened an eye and smiled at me, to which I responded by sticking out my tongue.

"Mom wants you to find some kindling," I replied, stalking away from the tree. "Evan and Lilly are coming," I added, throwing the words over my shoulder. Jake's jaw dropped and he smiled widely.

"Really?" he asked me, yelling across the yard. I smiled, and said nothing, looking straight ahead, not responding. I heard him jump out of the tree, and his footsteps resounded off of the trees. "Really?" he asked me again.

We were walking side-by-side to my father's workshop. It was located a short distance away from our house, and it was basically a second home, as nicely decorated and furnished as our own.

We walked into my father's workshop and he was preparing a table. Austin, my second youngest brother, was handing my father his tools and was covered in wood shavings. We stood in the doorway watching them work and as soon as Austin saw me, he mouthed, "Splinters." My father chose Austin to learn our family trade, knowing it would be likely for Jake to get an apprenticeship in Wensly. Austin, as of late, dubbed me as the "Splinter Girl" since I could always removed the annoying pieces of wood. Every evening, he usually had at least two, so this conversation was a common one.

"Evan and Lilly are coming for dinner!" Jake spouted excitedly.

"Really?" My father mused and continued sanding the table top. "You will have a lot of fun then," he commented and spoke no more, gesturing for Austin to hand him a nail.

Jake and I took the hint and left them in the workshop, then proceeded around to the back of the shop. I grabbed some of the wood scraps and Jake followed in my example. Together we had enough for the night. Creeping up to the front porch, we tried to put the the scraps in the wood box as quietly as possible, and we almost got away with it.

Halfway to the woods, I heard my mother screech, "Aria! Just where do you think you are going?" Her shrill voice was the reason we called her 'Screech Owl' behind her back. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother, but she never lets me get away with anything, no matter how involved my brothers were. It was always, "You can do better." So I would moan and groan often times resenting her.

However, today, Jake and I didn't escape her keen gaze. _Hawklike, almost_, I thought to myself.

She stood on the front porch, a wooden spoon in one hand and the other on her hip.

"See you later, " Jake mumbled in my ear and smirked as I scowled and walked toward my mother dejectedly.

"Oh, lighten up!" she said to me as I stared at the floor. "I'm not that bad, am I?" she asked and walked inside, letting the screen door slam without waiting for an answer.

"You aren't," I mumbled, "but chores sure are."

All afternoon I cleaned like a newly wed house wife scurrying around, preparing for the in-laws. I washed dishes, floors, chairs, clothes, tables, and even had to beat all the rugs. By the time I was done, I wanted to beat someone. Luckily though, my mother did all the cooking. The last time I tried to bake something, the stove caught on fire. Keep in mind, I was _baking._

When I was done cleaning, I was allowed outside, as long as I didn't get my dress dirty. We both knew that request was a joke; somehow I always manage to get covered from head to toe in mud.

After a halfhearted assurance, and as soon as I was far enough away from the house, I hitched my dress over my knees, similar to what I used to do when I was younger, and went running to find my brothers.

I climbed over the fence surrounding the vegetable garden and tried my best to dodge my mother's plants. The ground was moist under my bare feet, and once again I felt the smoothness of the other fence as I passed over the opposite side easily and continued to head into the woods. Jumping over the creek, I landed on a sharp rock and winced aloud.

The tree's above me rustled and I heard a stick to my left snap to my left. I grinned widely; I knew it was my brothers. A large stick leaning up against the tree caught my eye, and knowing that as soon as I grabbed the sparring stick, Jake would appear from the bushes. Then we would fight. It happened so many times before; yet we never grew tired of it, and no one could drag us from the childish ways of my brothers and I.

And so our sparring began.

I gripped the stick tightly and spun around quickly, almost smacking Jake in the chest. He flinched backward and grinned widely, "Close one," he said softly; I frowned.

"But not close enough," I replied and feinted. Jake responded with a jab to my knees. I winced and he rapped his stick sharply off my legs. "Good thing these are just sticks," I told Jake, and he simply grinned wider. _Great. _I thought sarcastically to myself,groaning internally _Show no weakness!_ I thought again, and smiled. It would be one of the many I had already acquired through our previous encounters. Jake forced me back to the creak whacking the sharp points of my body: my knees, elbows and ankles. (Don't ask me how he managed to hit my ankles; I have no idea.)

I teetered on the edge of the creek and tried to strike Jake again when he disarmed me. He feinted, and I expected a blow to push me into the creek. As it turns out, I didn't need one. I flinched backwards and wobbled on the bank. My eyes widened as I realized that I was wearing my last clean dress. Jake ought to have realized this also, for he grabbed my hand and yanked me back onto even ground.

I grinned ruefully and being the kind and courteous sister, I was I tackled him, knocking away his sparring stick. Jake laughed aloud and being the kind and chivalrous brother he was, he planted my face into the dirt, when Scott shinnied down from the big Oak. (Thank Goodness for him.)

"They're here!" he said excitedly, jumping up and down. "Evan and Lilly are here, and they brought guests!" he added hurriedly and weaved in between in the trees. Jake and I followed Scott, soon overtaking him. We running parallel to the road, towards the riders.


	3. Dinner Guests

**A/N: I will try to update every week, and twice if I can. I'm still working out editing, and it seems all my teachers have decided that December is a great month to assign a ton of homework.**

**FYI: Grekos= Greece/ Greek**

**Trouble in the Night: Yep! Though only for a year. At their first gathering is when each apprentice is tested. No one has failed before. **

**Tejana: Thanks for all you help. I really appreciate it!**

**Muha: Ask and you shall receive. Plus, I always try to make you guys laugh! **

Chapter 3

I whistled a sequence of notes similar to a chickadee, then we fell into a formation that had been practiced numerous times. It was a fun game we played. My brothers and I tried to use Lilly's tricks on her, secretly stalking her, or trying to slip something into her dinner. Although each time she caught us, it made us try all the harder. Today though, we had come up with a very elaborate scheme.

I climbed into the big oak tree, placing my feet into the notched grooves Jake put into the trunk, and positioned myself among the uppermost branches near the pulley system we installed. Scott stood below me and tied the bucket of worms to the rope. I pulled the bucket up to my branch and waited for Lilly to ride underneath me. A branch scratched my leg as I shifted and that's when things started to go wrong. It _might've_ been a good idea to knock the beehive under me to the ground _before_ climbing the tree and one allergic to bees probably should've been more responsible.

Anyway, those bees didn't really enjoy having their house swing back and forth. A huge swarm of bees funneled out of the hive and engulfed the branch. By this point I am completely freaking out, simply because I am surrounded by bees. So I do the only logical thing, climb towards the edge of the branch, _away_ from the trunk, trying to escape the little devils. I inched near the outermost branches when I misplaced my handhold. Transferring all my weight to the branch that wasn't there, I tumbled out of the tree with a shriek.

My father once explained _how _to fall out of a tree once he and my mother realized I would never kick the habit. I rolled in the air, like he taught me ( he even had me practice a few times by jumping off the roof. You can imagine the conniption my mother had...think Screech Owl on coffee, being chased by a Tasmanian devil), and when I hit the ground, I transferred the shock of the blow from my feet to my arms then my back and back to my legs again. I curled up into a ball on the road, allowing myself to succumb to the darkness.

Will told me about everything that followed until I regained consciousness again. He saw me fall from the tree, screaming my lungs off, and he pulled his horse to a quick stop. Lilly, Halt, and Evan did the same. When Lilly went to dismount, Jake had no idea what had happened and started to sneak up on Lilly. (As if my scream was just a battle cry. Don't ask me what's wrong with him, I don't know.) The sudden stop of her horse made him slip in the mud, trying to avoid running into Cricket. Either way, Jake slipped and smacked Evan's horse, who was riderless. Evan had also dismounted, rushing to my aid. Jake was planning to use his sparring stick to "kill" Lilly. Instead he was going to kill me.

Evan's horse reared, whinnied then began racing toward me; Evan couldn't control the Battle-horse. Of course, I happened to become conscious again as I felt the ground shake and heard the pebbles clatter against each other.

That might've been the scariest thing I've ever seen. You never really know what its like to have a horse come flying at you, unless you've had a horse come flying at you. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. I immediately wished I was back in the tree and the horse continued to gain speed.

Lilly screamed my name, but I couldn't move; partly because I had just fallen out of a tree twenty feet off the ground, and partly because I was scared to death. I was so focused on the horse and Evan who looked as panicked as I felt, that I didn't see the smaller man ride toward me on his shaggy pony. Evan's horse was ten feet away when I passed out...again.

I screamed and opened my eyes when I was doused with water from our creek. I am _so_ happy Scott remembered to dump out the worms _before_ filling the bucket with water.

So here I am leaning against a tree, dripping wet, in a ruined dress, just fell out of a tree, almost being killed by a horse; I do the only logical thing...I start bawling-not the wimpy tear trickle, but the full out blubbering, hiccups, shaking, snot machine-the works. I am crying my eyes out while this smallish guy, who by the way looks like he could be my grampa's grampa is standing above me, completely without sympathy, frowning. (I guess it's true what they say about ageing; the older you get the shorter you get. Oh be quiet Halt! You know I'm right!)

He opened his mouth to speak, "This was not well thought out,"he told me. I glared at him and the younger man, Will, elbowed grampa, AKA- Halt.

"Halt!" Will hissed. "The girl just had two near-death experiences in the same day. Cut her some slack!" I was wiping my eyes, pretending not to hear the exchange.

"I'm just saying that if she was more observant this never would never had happened." I glared at Halt again.

"Go fall down a well," I told Halt.

He replied, "I would tell you the same," he started to say as I rose an eyebrow. "But based on the way you look at the moment, it looks like that's already happened." Now standing in indignation, I walked toward the house, trying not to limp, with what little dignity remained to me.

I walked home in pain trying to think up a logical story to tell my parents about what had happened to my dress, and my legs, simply because what had just happened was definitelynot logical. Clarissa was sitting on the back porch and stared at me, leaving her dolls on the table in their uncomfortable positions.

"Mom's gonna be mad at _you_," she told me with a smirk looking at my dress.

"Shut up!" I hissed back as I opened the screen door, and tried to sneak through the kitchen to the stairs.

I would've made it up all right if Jake hadn't come running through the door. "I can't believe you lived through that, Aria!" he shouted. I made wide gestures, (similar to a bird flying, I was later told) trying to tell him to stop talking. I smacked my forehead with my palm and gave him a look telling him to expect death within the next 24 hours. My parents stood from their chairs in the next room; my mother was undoubtedly sewing one of my dresses and my father was whittling a toy for Scott.

I tried to run up the stairs before they saw me. "ARIA!" My mother screeched. "What the hell did you do?" I've only heard my mother swear once, and that was when Austin left Clarissa in a tree all night. Now _that_ was funny, but Clarissa wasn't a very good sport. He ended up cleaning the chamber pots for a year.

A small knock at the door probably saved my life. "Aunt Margret?" Lilly called through the screen and my mother shooed me upstairs pointing to her bedroom. I ran into her room and quickly took off my dress; it was torn in seven places. _Seven years of poo duty,_ I concluded and slipped on my mother's plainest dress, quickly pinning the back and the waist, fitting it to my size.

"Aria!" Clarissa called up the stairs in a sing-song voice.

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Coming!" In a mocking tone. I was not in a good mood. I ran a comb through my hair and tied it up in a ribbon. Running down the stairs I saw dinner had already begun, and I slipped quietly into the only available chair, next to Halt. _Of course no one wants to sit next to this old geezer,_ I reasoned and scooped some beans onto my plate.

* * *

><p>Dinner was delicious. My mother served several different types of veggies from her garden and we ate the turkey Jake had caught yesterday.<p>

"Can I be excused?" Austin asked my father, and he looked to my mother. She nodded her approval. I opened my mouth to ask the same thing, only to receive a glare. Soon the boys were gone and Lilly, Will, Halt, Evan, Clarissa, my mother and father, and I sat around the table. It looked like I was gonna have to stick this one out.

My mother wiped her mouth and sat her napkin daintily under her plate. "So Lillian, would you mind introducing your guests?" She asked. It goes without saying that my parents are old school. Most kids believe that their parents are old, but my parents had had some weird old policy of the Grekos: you don't ask anything about a guest until you've fed them. Like I said, old school. I don't know why she even bothered. It was obvious the two men were Rangers. Their cloaks were identical to Lilly's but either way, I knew my brothers were going to miss out on something big.

"Ah. Yes, of course, Aunt Martha," Lilly replied. She gestured to the man on her right. "This is Will. He was-," Lilly looked at the Ranger and he raised an eyebrow making her smile, "well-is my Master. And the other man is Halt; he is Will's Master." Lilly looked at Halt for a second then asked, "So does that make you my grand-Master?" Halt stared at Lilly with an extremely bored expression, Will snickered and Evan slapped his forehead with his palm. (I noticed a ring on his right hand, and one on Lilly's. They were a set, I could see that, and then it hit me. Those were their parent's rings...)

Not bothering to answer Lilly's question, Halt turned to my mother, "Thank you for a delicious dinner Mrs. Saunders. It was truly delightful," My mother blushed and I rolled my eyes, looking at Evan, who shared a sympathetic grimace. I sat at the table with my arms crossed, slouching, the posture of someone who obviously didn't want to be there.

Halt then took up conversation with my father about his woodworking and my mother, Lilly and Clarissa discussed the newest castle fashions. Evan and Will turned to each other for company, and I was stuck in the middle. Working up a tremendous coughing fit, I excused myself for some "fresh air." I never walked back into that house to rejoin dinner conversation.

"No lady manners for me!" I mumbled aloud and traveled off to find my brothers, ignoring my sore body and pounding headache.


	4. Keep Away from Bar Fights

**A/N: I updated a little faster this time, so I hope you all enjoy it. **

**Muha: I always love to make you laugh, and yes, these chapters are all before chapter 1. The first 1/4th of the story is told in flashback.**

**Tejana: Oh! Sorry about that! I based the character off my grumpy sister. Her name is shorter and similar, and I started calling her that as a pet name a few years ago. **

**PS. I hope you like the reference to WALJ!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

Austin was standing in line for some peach cobbler and he hissed the statement back towards Scott. "Capture the flag!"

"Capture the flag!" Scott whispered to Jake. Jake nodded and poked me with his fork. I jumped, glared at him, and was about to poke him back when he said softly, "Capture the flag!"

"Oh!" I replied and turned behind me to whisper it to Lilly. I swung my head around and came nose to nose with Halt. "Dang!" I cowered from him as he glared at me. "_Pardon moi,_" I said testily. Halt rose an eyebrow and took my place in line as I went to go talk to Lilly who seemed to be having a heated discussion with Evan.

"I'm telling you," Lilly said loudly, "no self respecting woman would ever work in a tavern! Let alone enter one!" Will paused in his conversation with my father and butted into Evan and Lilly'.

"But you went into a tavern," Will said with a smirk.

"_Seriously?_" I asked, making myself a part of their disscusion.

"_Oh_ yeah!" said Will again turning to me, smiling broadly.

"It was necessary for the circumstances," Lilly told everyone sharply, trying to end the conversation.

"Eh, not really," Will muttered and turned away.

"WHAT?" Lilly screamed and my mother dropped her knife. The boys turned to look at the confrontation between apprentice and master.

"Gil and I could've gotten the information well enough, but a pretty girl made the whole 'information-getting' go much faster." Lilly's face was bright red, and Will was obviously enjoying himself. Evan's face was a picture of astonishment, and even Halt looked amused in his own sardonic way. "Oh, and the bar fight was wonderful entertainment! Who would've guessed the ship captain was also the man Lilly happened to wrestle with?" Will turned and said to me.

"We DID NOT wrestle!" Lilly hissed, giving Will the most hateful death glare. "I beat him with a broom and my throwing knife. _Believe me,_ there is no way I would want to get any closer than I had to him. Much less you." The argument was about to get very personal. "The smell is overpowering. _Especially, _Ranger _Men. _You travel for weeks in the wild and never bother to bathe or shave. I'm surprised you're still married."

Will raised an eyebrow menacingly. "I see how you feel. I suppose a capture the flag game with settle this." The dining room was completely silent until Scott started giggling. I snickered and eventually everyone joined except Lilly and Will, whose faces were an inch apart. Oh, and Halt. Halt never laughs. (Yes, Halt it is true. Now be quiet; I'm telling the story.)

Lilly turned suddenly, and whipped her braid against Will's face. Will laughed cruelly and grabbed her hair sharply. Lilly squealed, "Not again!"

"Jake would you mind getting the door for me?" Will asked, rather calm, which only furthered the confused atmosphere. Jake opened the door and Will pulled a mad former-apprentice out the door. The room was extremely quiet, and moment later we all heard a sickening _squelch_, and Lilly's indignant shriek.

Will walked in the door, smelling suspiciously of farm animal feces, and rubbed his hands together, "Sorry about that," he said, with a smile. "I had to take care of some business. Now, Mrs. Saunders, may I try some of that peach cobbler." Will walked to the front of the line and my mother was pale and quiet as she served him a piece of pie. Suffice to say, he never got invited back.

Eventually conversation started up again and Lilly never came back inside. I didn't realized why until after desert.

"So who's ready for capture the flag?" Will asked loudly, cutting into conversations and all of us kids (except for Clarissa) shrieked excitedly. We dropped our forks on our plates on the table and headed toward the front door.

Jake opened the door, then shut it with a yell, leaning against it, as if he was planning to protect us from some hostile force.

"Jake?" I questioned as Scott ran to the windows. Will followed him, and I walked behind. We peered through and saw Lilly covered in horse and cow manure.

"William Treaty!" Lilly shrieked and ran toward the window as soon as she saw her mentor. Scott and Austin cowered from their positions and backed into Will and I, who bolted to the front door, which was now unguarded. We rushed through and dispersed in the yard. An unspoken game of "keep away" ensued, but the title could've easily be changed to "keep-away- from-Lilly-and-her-horse-poop-filth". The name seemed a bit long to me.

I sped towards the horse shed and saw Lilly, Will, Halt and Evan's mounts. _This is a great idea_, I thought to myself. I was planning to ride the shaggy gray pony into the front yard and scaring the daylights out of Lilly. The outcome proved not to be the smartest thing to do. At least it wasn't as bad as the tree experience though.

I mounted the little gray pony, and kicked my heels into his sides, not bothering to sit like a lady. The sudden twitch along his back was the last thing I felt before my head collided with a tree behind me.

Definitely not a good day.


	5. Of Meetings and Letters

**A/N: I was so inspired by reviews that I decided to update super quick!**

**Muha: I thought so too! (The conversation part.)**

**Tejana: Hahaha! Thanks!**

**Ranger Lauren: Of course not! And I'll happily oblige!**

**Trouble in the Night: No, not really. Sadly, there will be many more.**

Chapter 5

I opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them, then jerked suddenly when I didn't recognize my surroundings.

"Finally," a voice grumbled, making me jump and fall out of the bed, dragging the sheets with me.

"Ow," I moaned, and peaked over the bed, seeing Halt slouched in his chair, looking at me, slightly amused.

"Smooth," he said roughly and walked out the door, leaving me alone to wonder what the heck just happened.

I stood and looked around at my surroundings. "This is definitely not my bedroom," I told myself wisely. Across from my bed was the door and I could see Halt by a wash bin, scooping what looked like coffee beans into his pot. There was a dresser to my left and a window above the bed.

Dropping the quilt on the bed, I walked into the larger room and sat in one of the chairs. My mother's dress fanned over my knees; it was covered in mud. _Oh great,_ I sighed. _Now I get to wash the clothes _and_ empty the chamber pots when I get home._

"You're not going back," Halt said abruptly, as if he could read my thoughts, staring out the window above the wash bin.

I was silent for a moment. "What?" I questioned incredulously. "Why not?"

Halt poured himself a cup of coffee and drank about half of it, before turning around, walking over to me, and handing me a letter. I snatched it from him eagerly and tore the envelope open, recognizing my father's untidy scrawl.

_My dearest Aria,_

_I miss you most dearly and you haven't even left yet. Currently, you are laying on the couch, and your mother is desperately trying to wipe the mud from your face. To be honest, you have always been covered in dirt or mud from the day you could walk._ I chuckled to myself._ I hope you do not resent our decision. After all, your mother and I do want the best for you._ The line made me jump.

I remembered hearing my father say, "We just want the best for her."

"Of course you do," Will responded.

Halt added, "So do I," _What?_ I thought to myself. _I don't even know Halt. _"But she will never learn the ways of society." The words resounded in my head, and immediately my eyes blurred; I could no longer make out the words of my father's letter. _Does everyone see me as a failure?_

"But Aria will learn!" My mother pleaded, seeing the truth in Halt's words, yet yearning to believe her own.

Lilly's skeptical voice broke in, "Do you really believe that?" There was a deep pause, and she amended her statement. "Will Aria be happy?" Another pregnant pause followed. "I'll get my horse," Lilly said finally.

The room was silent, except for the occasional creaking chair. I heard Jake enter the room. The rhythm of everyone's footsteps were so familiar to me. My countless nighttime escapades called for a good sense of knowing who made what movements.

"What's going on here?" Jake asked, seeing my parent's somber faces. "Where is Aria going?" My parent's were usually upset when anything involved me, this time wouldn't be any different.

"She's going to train with the Rangers." My father's smooth voice drilled the sentence into my head.

* * *

><p>"No!" I moaned aloud and sank into a chair, sobbing. My father's letter crinkled in my hand. I didn't need to read the rest, my flashback provided enough.<p>

"Aria?" Halt's hesitant voice was the only thing that proved the horrific events to be true- well... his voice, and the rather uncomfortable chair I was sitting in.

I ran from the room and into the bedroom I awoke in, slamming the door behind me, and collapsed on the bed. Only one thought ran through my head, _I've failed them. I'm a failure._

A knock on the door jarred me from my thoughts and I heard Halt swear under his breath.

"Dammit! Let me in, girl!" I was happy I locked the door.

* * *

><p>What seemed like hours later-to me at least-I heard the familiar <em>clomp-de-clomp-clomp <em>of Cricket's hooves on the forest trail. _Lilly,_ I thought and listened as the screen door slamed, and Halt's sigh of relief.

"Finally," he spoke, and Lilly raised an eyebrow. "She hasn't left the room all day."

"What did you do?" Lilly asked in a bored voice, and Halt's eyes narrowed.

_"Nothing!"_ he hissed, and Lilly rolled her eyes.

"I'll find out," she assured him. "But if Pauline was here, she would've solved this by now." Lilly threw the words over her shoulder, making Halt scowl.

"What am I supposed to do?" Halt said venomously, then lowered his voice. "If you think for a minute I'm not upset by the fact she has yet _another_ 'diplomatic policy' trip, you better think again."

Lilly nodded sympathetically, and remembered her own Mark, who was away in a different fief, on some bandit trail hunting.

"I know," she said, and knocked on my door. "Aria? Would you mind opening the door?" she asked and I ignored her, laying on my bed, my face buried in the lumpy pillow. "It was worth a try..." I heard her mumbled and listened as something scratched at the door.

A few minutes later, the door popped off its hinges. I watched the whole procedure, starting from the scratching, to the actual door being removed. I saw Halt leaning against the wash bin, drinking what must've been his seventh cup of coffee that day.

My face must have looked pretty funny, because right then and there, Halt choked, which made Lilly drop the door on her foot.

"OW! Owowowowow!" she yelled, and the door tumbled against the doorf rame, while Lilly clutched her foot and jumped up and down on the other one.

"You're all mental," I muttered under my breath, reached for the wooden shutters, unlatching them and was halfway out when someone grabbed my hair roughly.

"Let me go, Lilly!" I yelled. Apparently, some Ranger mentors figured that the best way to punish female apprentices or in Lilly's case, Silver Leaf Rangers, was to pull their hair-courtesy of Gilan. (Thanks, Gil. "Hahaha! Just happy to help, you know me.")

"Heh," she smirked. "Nope." Lilly said the words with such resounding force, that I have to admit, threw me off a bit. I struggled a bit more, and Lilly yanked harder. I whipped around and aimed a punch to her throat, but Lilly moved her forearm against my wrist, moving my arm away from her.

"Really?" Lilly question in what seemed like a disappointed tone, then, in one fluid motion, sat me on the bed, released my hair, and bolted the shutters. "Tal,." she commanded, and I stared at her for a good forty seconds. Lilly seemed slightly freaked out, and turned around, thinking I was looking behind her. "You read the note, huh?" she tried again.

"No." The reply was abrupt, and I hope she got the message that I didn't want to talk. As if the widow escape, and locking the door simply wasn't enough.

"You didn't read the note?" Lilly cocked her head like a dog, and I was fondly reminded of the puppy I had once found, and tried to convince my mother to let me keep. We all know how that turned out.

"No."

"Can you say anything else?" Lilly rose an eyebrow.

"No," I replied with a smirk.

"Hmmm," Lilly pretended to stroke a beard she didn't have, and I laughed. I wondered how that looked. My eyes were undoubtedly swollen, and my face-probably blotchy. A laughing horror. (No Will, I do _not_ look like that now.) I stopped giggling suddenly, thinking about it.

"Did I really fail them?" I asked, and Lilly sat up straight; I caught her off guard.

"No!" she replied quickly. "They love you. No matter what." Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, she looked me in the eyes. "Never."

I nodded, but was still doubtful. "My mother..." I started, then stopped shaking my head in confusion.

"Your mother was unrealistic," Lilly finished quickly.

"What?" My eyebrows narrowed.

"She was unrealistic. Your mother expected you to become a castle lady..."

"Like she was," I finished. My mother was taken in by the Baron's wife, when she was seen in a tailoring shop. She became the Baroness's Lady-in-waiting. Mom gave up her prestigious position when she met my father.

I was sitting at the head of the bed and Lilly was sitting on the foot when a silence followed. "Should I have tried harder?" The thought had been lingering in my mind for hours. If this had been my fate, I would've, well, I don't know how I would've acted differently.

"What would you have done?" Lilly shook her head slightly. "You can't force yourself to enjoy embroidery, or stitching, knitting, needlework...I really don't know what term is proper." She gave me a lopsided smile. Putting her leg on the bed, she showed me a crudely sown spot in her leggings. I giggled and smiled back. "Could you see me baking or knitting?" she asked and I shook my head harshly.

Leaning close to me, Lilly whispered in my ear, "I had to read up on the castle fashions before I rode to your house. I can't believe Aunt Martha expects me to be interested in that stuff."

I laughed loudly, Lilly really knows how to cheer people up. She stood to go. "Here, I brought this for you, that dress of yours will never live up to Halt's expectations. It has barely lived through the day." Lilly handed the bundle to me, and I unwrapped it quickly. It was her Ranger outfit, but in a slightly smaller size.

It was perfect and the shoes also fit, but I left them under the bed. _Who needs shoes? _I thought. I walked around barefoot at home all the time, why did shoes even matter? I undressed quickly and handed the destroyed dress to Lilly.

"You ought to burn that," I told her, and she laughed. I slid my cut legs into the green leggings. Although commonly worn by the men, it served the women Ranger's well enough as well. Ignoring Lilly's sharp intake of breath at the sight of my legs, I threw the tight brown shirt over my underwear and put a darker brown tunic atop that which reached to my knees. Not exactly the most orthodox, but helpful nonetheless. Lilly helped me lace up the strings in the front, tying them into a regulation knot, and I was ready to go.

I started to move toward the door-less doorway, and Lilly cleared her throat. I looked behind me.

"Don't you need these?" she asked, holding the shoes. I shrugged my shoulders and she tossed them to me. "You better wear them. Halt already thinks you're weird. No offense." she told me with a slight smile and I shrugged. _ Ha!_ I thought_, the grampa thinks I'm the weird one! That's a funny! _I slid them on, and walked out through the joined kitchen and living room and onto the porch.

"Girl," Halt said abruptly, acknowledging my presence and continued to fire his massive longbow. Lilly walked onto the porch behind me, and he nodded in Lilly's direction. My cousin looked elated. _That is not a good sign. _"Girl," Halt said again, and I looked at him. Lilly nudged me toward the steps and I walked down them towards my mentor.

"Good luck." I heard a hushed whisper in my ear. I turned back towards Lilly, but she was gone.

Halt looked me up and down, and nodded once. "You'll do."

And I was very, very, scared.


	6. Day One of Chores

**A/N: This chapter really isn't very interesting, but an apprentice does need to clean before the fun starts.**

**Tejana: Oh I'm sure he could've, but then we would've missed out on some plotline.**

**Muha: I don't know... Halt's face can be kinda off-putting.**

**PS: This chapter was four pages longer, but I cut the rest off. You'll get that tomorrow. Besides, it's one of my favorites!**

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

I sat on the porch steps, and watched Halt shoot arrow after arrow into the tree with the hay target attached. Each shot made me jump, as I heard a solid _thwack_ into the trunk. _And another solider is down,_ I thought, and cringed, unwillingly imagining the gut-wrenching cry of another solider dying. My resentment grew, and a scowl became a permanent look on my face. I saw Halt glance at me quickly, and he changed his target.

Shooting and arrow into the branches, an arrow pin itself through an apple then fell to the ground- the deadly tip, dripping with juice. I forced myself to stand and move toward the arrow. It lay on the foliage, and I frowned, picked it up, turned it over once, and handed it to Halt.

I could see his eyes in the shadow of his cowl. A deep brown-almost black, was the color of his irises-indifferent, yet understanding eyes. Handing him the arrow, I saw his eyes gleam for a quick moment, then it faded.

Snatching the arrow from my hand, and the fletching brushed lightly against my fingers. I looked at the gray feathers, in addition to the black shaft and tried to conceal my thought of the poor bird, who had been killed unceremoniously, to create a weapon of death.

I looked back up into Halt's eyes, and we stared at each other. A crunch sounded, and Halt pulled the arrow from the apple, and I flinched involuntarily. Taking a big bite of the apple, he stared at me for another moment, then turned away, tromping into the woods, with his bow and quiver, leaving me with my thoughts.

* * *

><p>Around dusk, Halt approached me. I was sitting in the dirt, with a stick in my hand, drawing an abstract picture of a flower, trying to pass the time. I had been there for the whole day and nothing happened.<p>

"Girl," he grunted, and I looked up. "Clean the house," he said abruptly and walked away. I stared at him for a quick second, then finally comprehended the words. Wordlessly, I walked into the house, muttering, "What does he think I am, his slave?" Yet, I obeyed (Mainly because the idea of a mad Halt scared me even more than passive Halt.)

I swept the bedrooms, and moved the dirt into the wide living space then swept the porch, throwing all the dust onto the path leading up to the cabin. I ran a wet rag I found in the rain barrel along the railings and the shutters- both sides. I dusted the mantle, made the beds, put some bright flowers in an old cup, and stared at the horrific pile of dishes in the wash bin.

Animal bones littered the area, and a bucket of stagnant water sat beside the pile and a bar of soap was still in its packaging. Shuddering in disgust, I walked outside to the water barrel and wanted to scream in frustration-it was completely empty. Resolving to fill the stupid thing in the morning, I ran to the river, hoping to make it to back to the house, before all the natural light was gone.

The water was ice cold, despite the warm humid weather. Standing on the firm grassy banks I got my knees, and-not for the first time that day, marveled at the convince of my new clothes. The bucket was soon full and in no time I was back at the cabin.

"Now I can get to work." I put the leftover food pieces into an old canvas sack, that I had now designated the "Old, gross, leftover bag". Unwrapping the soap, I looked at the door for the millionth time. "No Halt," I muttered, then added, "Thank goodness." I scrubbed dishes, then tilted the bucket, letting the water slosh out, then repeated the process.

The wash bin itself, was slanted toward one side, and a small wooden pipe extended underneath. There was a hole on both sides and was a really ingenious idea, I thought. As I would pour water from the bucket onto the dishes, the soiled water, would then move into the pipe, and into another bucket. I thought it was really neat, and I got to thinking. ("A dangerous thing." Oh be quiet, Halt!)

Since Redmont feif is one the oldest, the Ranger cabin is also probably the oldest cabin. So there is no pump for the water. I was resolved to change that. Stacking the dishes along the side of the wash bin, I ran outside and grabbed a few sticks. Fumbling around in the dark, I finally found something suitable, and ran back inside, the night life noises were completely unfamiliar.

The door creaked noisily open, and I walked to the table, sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs. I laid the sticks on the table, and grabbed the bucket, measuring their height. When the sticks were finally adjusted in the correct position, I guess you could say that was when I began snooping.

I needed wire. What I was planning to do was to fashion a frame around the bucket, and then attach a hook at the bottom. String would wind around the top support, and connect to another two pieces of wood, crossing each other. The string would be attached to the bottom part of the cross and the top portion was where you would wind the twine up. That was just the first part.

I also wanted to make a small sluice, so the water would pour out of the bucket, and not spill all over the counter, but it was too late to find any supplies for that.

Looking in Halt's room, I only found a book, and an oil lamp. Suspecting Grampa was one for secret cubby-holes, I knocked on the wooden plank walls. I found a hollow spot. Kicking the spot harshly, I heard a hollow echo and the piece fell with a bang. I checked the door for Halt.

The spot was empty, but there was an outline of a box in the dust, although it was faded. Something had been moved a while ago. Ditching the cubby-hole, I moved into the main room, suspecting a false plank to be not far beyond the gristly Ranger. Walking on the floor, I slowly moved across them, and tapped each one with my toe, listening to the slight vibrato of each.

Upon coming to the middle of the room, I felt a very slight change in pitch-_very slight_. "He's super good," I muttered and grabbed, the flat, steel bladed fire poker,and pried the board up. (I had used the very same technique myself. Lilly showed me I'm not some goody little two shoes you know!) Dust billowed, and I made it disperse and I waved my hand back and forth. On the dirt floor lay several old maps, a belt, an old, dried flower, an extra set of knives, strikers, and a northseeker.

(Okay, I admit it, maybe I wasn't really looking for a hook, wire, and twine...but you have to admit, it made a great excuse to snoop around.) I stuffed everything back into the hole and put the plank on, but made sure the positions were exact. Now, I actually started my hunt for twine, wire, and a hook, which was easily found in a cupboard. I took an oil lamp from the mantle, and lit it, setting it by my work station.

Tying the sticks together was easy enough, and the prototype worked pretty well, I'm proud to say. I put the creation on the counter by the wash bin and headed to bed completely exhausted.


	7. Maps and Memories

**A/N: Wow! I'm updating super quick! I hope you enjoy it!**

**Muha: Hopefully this one is better. I probably shouldn't have split up both chapters...**

**Tejana: Sorry about that.**

**PS. I don't know when I'll update again. If not this weekend, then it will be next week.**

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

Upon waking the next morning, Halt was still missing. Well, maybe not missing, but he was definitely not in the cabin. I went without breakfast, mainly because there was no food on the premises, (How can you live without food?) and journeyed outside to explore the woods, the small stable, and lean-to. The lean-to housed an ax, and a pile of firewood, and the stable had everything a horse stable needed, with the exception of a horse, strange enough. I let the matter go and headed into the woods, planning to do something fun after all my hard work the day before.

I memorized my path, taking in each rock, stick, leaf and tree. A few trees I noticed were good for climbing, which I found very surprising. After all, when there is a forest, the trees have to compete for sunlight, making them grow taller and taller, far beyond climbing height.

"Finished exploring?" said a voice from behind me, a hour later, scaring me out of my wits. I jumped about a mile high, and whipped around, to find myself staring into those deep, piercing eyes.

"Yes, sir," I mumbled to my feet, and shifted my stance a bit. I saw Halt's eyes narrow, as he looked at my feet also.

"What?" he barked, and I jumped again.

"Yes, sir!" I said much louder, making Halt raise an eyebrow; humor lighted in his eyes.

He replied, "Well, then let's get on with it!" and turned to leave.

"Um, 'get on with what'?" I questioned, and Grampa stiffened, then kept walking silently forward, muttering incoherently about "useless questions".

* * *

><p>We walked back to the cabin, silent, and I recognized my landmarks, but strangely enough, I noticed Halt flinch every few minutes, and I wondered why. Wise enough though, I didn't say anything.<p>

Arriving at the house, I saw him look at my work, and he said nothing. I took it as approval. Then, to simply insult me, I suppose, he walked across the cleaned floor in his muddy boots. Suffice to say, I wanted to whack him over the head with his stupid longbow and quiver.

I stood on the threshold, gaping at the atrocity before me. (Yes, it was an atrocity! All my hard work got trampled on!)

"Do you need an invitation?" Halt asked me dryly, and I shook myself from my stupor.

"What?" I questioned.

"Get in here," he grumbled, then added, "Floors are meant to get dirty."

"Yes, sir!" I said quickly, and ran to where he sat at the table. If he noticed my creation, he had enough sense not to say anything about it. He would've had to listen to a long and thorough explanation.

"And why do you keep calling me 'sir'?" Grampa muttered, fixing me with an icy stare. "I vaguely remember, and certain hostess telling a certain Ranger to-and I quote- 'fall down a well.'"

I chuckled nervously in reply. I guess my uncommon, polite manners stemmed from the fact that I realized I was going to be spending _a lot_ of time with this guy.

"Yeah," I laughed again. "Sorry about that." I gave him a half smile, but Halt's cold stare wiped it from my face. "Sorry," I added again, quickly and stared at my feet, shifting back and forth. I glanced up at Halt and his frown deepened.

"Forget it," Halt told me and turned his attention back to the table, and the map lay on it. "This is a map," he said wisely, and I rolled my eyes in disgust, then looked at it intently. I'd never seen a map before, and frankly, it was really interesting.

Although it was only a map of the fief, the tree symbols, were ordinary, and the river running through it would be recognized as Tarbus River, and Wensly village lay beside it, along with Redmont Castle, of course.

Even more interesting than the location of these places, was the distancing between them. On the top right-hand corner lay a key. The distance between the two lines, was a half inch but it stood for three miles. A genius creation, I thought- the work of a master.

Although I didn't see Halt's cabin, but the battleschool was included, I was slightly perturbed, but resolved to not ask a question.

"How long is the Tarbus River?" Halt asked me quickly, I barely had a moment to take everything in.

"Forty-eight miles," I replied quickly, and slapped one hand over my mouth. _What do you think you're doing? Why are you trying to make a fool of yourself?_ Halt looked at me blankly, as if he expected nothing less than the correct answer.

"And the distance between Redmont, and the Village?" He questioned again.

"Three-fourths of a mile," I replied quickly again, and cringed.

Halt stared at me a moment, then got up from the table, and went to his room. I was sconfused, and I thought he was done with the lessons. My eyes followed him, and a moment later I saw him grab more pieces of parchment. The rolled papers practically spilled out of his arms, and he was sitting at the table again.

The exercises continued for the next ten minutes. Halt would name the respective landmarks and I would tell him the distances.

"Here and here?" he would ask.

"Twelve miles," I would reply.

"Here and here?"

"Seven miles,"

"Here and here?"

"Thirty-four miles." We switched maps.

"Here and here?"

"Twenty-six miles." I sighed, then finally asked a question. "Halt?"

"Hmm?" Halt acknowledged, then continued pointing. "Here and here?"

"Fifty-eight," I told him. He pointed to two more spots. At this point, he wasn't even pointing to villages anymore. It was rather annoying. He would point to two _trees_ and expect me to know the answer.

"Can we stop yet? And what is the point of this?" I asked him and he replied with a raised eyebrow and an abrupt:

"No."

I frowned, and opened my mouth to ask another question, but Halt cut me off.

"New exercise," he said, and I smiled a bit, getting more comfortable in his company.

Halt spread yet, another map out in front of me. It was of the Araluen fief, and was decorated with very fine colors and beautiful calligraphy. I grinned widely and stared at it.

"Wow," I breathed, and then my amazement, the map disappeared as fast as it came, when Halt rolled up the map, and tied a string neatly around it.

"Draw it," he commanded and put a piece of parchment, and a stick of charcoal on the table.

"What?" I asked, incredulous.

"Draw it," he told me again, and looked me in the eye. "I'm going to get food. Don't burn down the house, and I'll expect your map to be finished.

Without waiting for a response, he turned away, and walked swiftly out the door.

* * *

><p>I leaned back in my chair and shut my eyes, proceeding to remember each detail of the map.<p>

* * *

><p>The map appeared in my mind as clear as day, and I reached for the charcoal. the lines I drew were straight and simple, and I tried to trace each mark as I had seen it. It worked out rather well. I no time, I had the map finished, and I was pretty sure my attempt at calligraphy was very, well, spot on.<p>

I headed outside, seeking some comfort in the small stream in the woods. I had found a spot earlier that was simply beautiful. The water gurgled, bubbled and laughed, as it danced over the rocks, and the leaves, twirled around each other, tauting the trees with their free motion.

I sat in the dirt with a stick in my hand, and drew the complex indentation on a leaf, to the best of my ability. It was entertaining, and eventually, the constant trickling of water, lulled me to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Aria. Girl." I felt Halt nudging me with the toe of his shoe, and his rough voice, awakened me quickly. "Get back to the house," he snapped, at me and I scampered behind him as the grizzled Ranger led the way, while I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.<p>

"If you're done taking a nap," Halt,commented sardonically, and I rolled my eyes.

"You'd like to see my map?" I finished for him, and he nodded. Once we arrived, he sat down at the table, then gestured for me to get him a cup of coffee. I saw the pot sitting near the fire, and took a chipped cup from the cupboard. Pouring some coffee into it, I heard Halt shift in his chair and turned to look at him.

His face was still as taciturn as ever, but there was something different about his expression. I brought the cup to him, and saw the two maps.

They were absolutely identical.

"I didn't cheat!" I said quickly, not wanting Halt to think I was that kind of person.

"I know," he replied solemnly. "I took the map with me."


	8. Stupidity and Knives

**A/N: It's been a long while since I last updated, so for those of you who have waited for the next update, here it is! **

**Muha: If you thought that was interesting, check this out!**

**Tejana: Thanks!**

**PS: And just in case you didn't know... Aria is pronounced: Ah-ree-uh. So here it is! Chapter 8!**

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

"Wait, Halt!" I ran from my room, in my sleeping clothes, with a letter in my hand. "Make sure you drop this off for Will, too!" Halt had written to Will, his last apprentice, (before me) shortly, after my, well, display. And I had a vague idea of what it was about. Halt rose an eyebrow in reply, but said nothing. He went to the stables, I changed into my "Ranger clothes", (as I had now dubbed them) and a moment later he was back.

Sitting outside on the porch, he showed me his bow, and quiver, and two knives. Halt would point to the parts of each, and inform me about them.

"This is shaft," he would say, as he pointed to the long stick-part of the arrow, and handed it to me. I nodded, and he pointed out the fletching-the feathers that help the arrow fly straight, the nock-a gap at the end that connects it to the bowstring, the arrowhead-the pointy thing that hurts people, and lastly the insert- where the arrowhead connects to the shaft.

Halt briefly showed me his longbow, and cut me off when I was going to ask a question.

"You won't be using this one," he said quickly, and pulled a recurve bow from somewhere behind him. "This will be your bow."

I took the weapon in my hands. It was a beautiful thing, and my father would've been jealous.

"It's made from Yew," he told me and I nodded again.

"So what do archers do?" I asked Halt after a moment, and he rose an eyebrow, glaring at me. "Rangers." I corrected myself, and his face regained a peaceful sort of look. (I suppose I could've asked Lilly this question, but in reality, I don't think she wanted to talk about it. I always knew Rangers were an elite group, and I guessed that what they did was top secret.)

"You could say that we are the kingdom's spies, but that only occurs during extreme times." I was told, and Halt took his arrow back from my hands, and thumbed it gently. "Any other time, we are the law enforcers."

"Why do you need bows then?" I questioned but already knew the answer. "Lawbreakers are criminals, and are sometimes dangerous." I answered my own questioned and Halt nodded. "But what do you do in war time? Other than spying..."

Halt leaned against the railing surrounding the porch, knowing that my questions would continue for a while. "What ever we can do to help," he answered. "But normally during a battle, we can be relied on to pick off the more threatening of the enemy."

My brows furrowed together, and I scowled. "Where's the honor in that?" I asked, and realized that as soon as the question popped out of my mouth, I had crossed some kind of invisible line.

Halt sat up quickly, and a flash of anger passed across his face."Excuse me?" he hissed, and I clarified, digging myself deeper into the hole.

"You stand behind the lines, while the knights attack up close with swords, and battle axes, putting themselves in the fray. It seems cowardly." I had struck a nerve, but I also felt like I deserved an answer. It didn't make sense to me, and I was going to have be okay with this eventually, after all, I was training to be a Ranger. Anger tinged my cheeks, and within a moment, Halt was standing, his hand raised, to slap me.

"You insolent child!" he snarled, grabbed my collar, pulling me to my feet, and onto my toes making my eyes level with his. "Ranger's go many places knights dare not! We go behind enemy lines, burn supplies, and cause them whatever grief we can and if we do our jobs right, those honorable men will never have to face the enemy," he whispered, and I stared into those deadly eyes, very aware of my grave mistake.

Then without any warning Halt, let me go, and walked swiftly into the house, letting the screen door slam shut.

The noise made me jump and a second later, I jumped off the porch, ran into the woods, trying to suppress tears, and yelling at myself for my stupidity. "Aria! You idiot!" I yelled to the trees, and collapsed against one, sniffling. Within a second, I was punching, and kicking the poor tree who simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. "You need this job! Do something for your parents for once, make them proud! Idiot! Nincompoop! Jackass! OW!" I felt something crack in my hand, and I punched the tree for the fifth time. "Why in bloody hell are you so stupid?" I screamed, and kicked the trunk. "OW!" I yelled again, and clutched my foot with my good hand, jumping on my left foot, a picture of absolute lunacy.

And then I heard it, a noise that would change my life forever. A twig snapping, except, it wasn't a twig. I looked at my left ankle, and set my right gently on the ground. In bewilderment, I walked around the tree, and heard the sound again. _Snap!_

"What the...?" I muttered and continued pacing. _Crack!_ This time I looked underfoot, searching for the possibly culprit of the noise. I dug around in the leaves, but there was no twig.

In a hurry, I sat against the tree again, and lifted my feet of the ground, flexing them, and moving them left and right. _Crack! Snap! Snap! Pop!_

My jaw dropped. It was me. I put a hand on my left ankle and moved it around. _Snap!_ I felt the tendons in it move slightly. My foot dropped to the ground, and I couldn't stop the gut-wrenching cry that fell from my mouth.

"No! This is bad! This is bad, bad, bad, BAD!" I knew little about Rangers, but of the knowledge I had, these people were supposed to be silent. And I was not silent. Not because I didn't want to be, or didn't know how, but I physically couldn't be.

I put my hands to my head, grabbing my hair in frustration. "No," I moaned, and lay on the ground, my body heaving with sobs.

* * *

><p>"You missed lunch," Halt told me as I walked into the cabin. I washed my face in the creek, and hoped it hid the signs that I had been crying. Lucky for me, it did.<p>

"Sorry," I told him with a slight tremble, and moved to the sink to clean the dishes.

"For missing lunch?" he scoffed.

"No. For all that stuff I said earlier. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking," I countered, and he nodded thoughtfully, saying nothing. "And for lunch?" I added, in case he was expecting an apology for that, too.

"That's okay," he said gruffly, as if he wasn't used to apologies. "After all you are an apprentice, I can't expect you to start thinking, now can I?" he added with a smirk. It was the closest thing I had seen to a smile. I nodded slightly, unaware of his sarcastic personality, and unable to tell if he was kidding. Though I suspected he wasn't.

"Go outside," he said after a brief silence, and I walked out through the screen door, crossed the porch and headed to the small clearing. Halt grabbed the recurve bow off the porch, and he had an extra quiver of arrows and a belt with two knives dangling from it.

"I showed you the bow earlier," he started, "Now let's see if you can shoot it." We stopped, and walked about twenty paces away from the nearest tree with a crudely drawn chalk target.

"So I just shoot at it?" I asked as I took the bow from him, gesturing to the target.

Halt shrugged, replying, "That is the general idea."

I held out my hand, and held my head high. "Arrow." I commanded sharply, and Halt rose an eyebrow, "Please?" I amended the statement, and he handed me a brown shafted arrow, with gray feathers.

"I want to put this arrow in that tree?" I asked again, suspecting a trick.

Halt shruged his shoulders, replying dryly,"That is the general idea."

"So you said," I mumbled to myself, and grabbed the arrow from his hand. I looked at Halt for another moment, nocked the arrow, and looked back at him. "Nope." I decided, and handed the recurve bow back to Halt, who, made no attempt to take it.

"Why not?" His face was blank.

"Every time I try to do something, it turns out to be a trick. You fire it." I replied earnestly.

The corner of Halt's mouth twitched upward. "Good. You are more cautious than a certain thickheaded apprentices." I gave him a small smile, but he quickly added, "Though at times you make me wonder." Halt pushed the bow toward me, and I let it droop by my side; he then grabbed my wrist and he tied it a thick piece of leather onto my left arm. "This is a bracer, you need this to fire an arrow, otherwise, you'll be stuck with some large ugly welt."

"Good to know." I said to myself, as his rough hands fastened the leather ties, then dropped my arm. I lifted my wrist again, and tucked the recurve bow under my right arm, and knocked on the thick, hard leather. "That might just work." I said to myself and lifted the bow again.

Nocking the arrow, I held the bow with my first and middle finger, like I'd see Halt do when he was practicing. (More like showing off though.) I drew the bow string back and let go, shutting my eyes as I did so. I heard the slap of the bowstring, and I opened my eyes slowly to see the arrow wiggle its way off the bow and fall three feet in front of me.

"Well that's simply pitiful," I said contemptuously, and Halt snorted with laughter.

"You need to practice." It sounded like Halt was going to leave it at that, but I guess he couldn't help adding, "And a lot of it, too."

I groaned, and knew that all of my free time was about to go down the drain.

I set the bow on the ground as Halt grabbed the smaller of the two knives from his belt, then gestured for me to do the same. I unsheathed it with a hiss, and looked to Halt for further instruction. "This is the throwing knife. It's made of well tempered steel and is perfectly balanced." To further prove his point, Halt threw it into the target, and it whirled end over end, until it gave a sickening thud into the tree, gouged deeply in the trunk itself. "Your turn," he instructed, and I rose an eyebrow.

"So just throw it?" I asked, hiding a smile at my mentor's response.

"Are we really going to go through that again?"

I replied by shaking my head, and, well, threw it. The knife spun through the air, and the blade sunk into the tree, directly above Halt's. "Well that's damn interesting," he commented abruptly, and I looked at my hands in awe, then Halt's face. His eyebrows were narrowed and his lips pursed together.

"Halt?" I questioned nervously as he stared the tree, then at me. I looked away, shifted my feet nervously, and then Halt flinched, shaking himself from his stupor.

"Explain what you did," Halt ordered in a soft tone.

"I threw it?" I tried, and he rose an eyebrow, I shrugged my shoulders and kicked at the dirt, looking away.

"Look at me, Aria," Halt told me, and I stared into those deep, dark eyes. "I know there's more to you than what you think and if I am going to teach you, I need to understand you. Explain what you did," he repeated, and I looked away shutting my eyes, thinking deeply.

I came up with nothing. The one time that is was totally important to remember something, everything I recalled was fuzzy, static.

"I threw it?" I tried again, grimacing as I said it.

A spasm of anger passed quickly over Halt's face, and he frowned, growling, "Aria!" drawing my name out.

"Sorry!" I said quickly, and turned toward the tree, staring at our knives. "Can you show me again?" I asked him, already moving toward where they were embedded in the trunk. Halt nodded, and I grabbed the two hilts, then started to move back toward our positions, twenty-five feet away. My arms were almost yanked out of their sockets, and I stumbled, letting go of the knives, who clearly didn't want to be removed.

I repositioned myself in front of the tree with a puff of anger. Grabbing Halt's knife tightly, I put both hands on it and pulled as hard as I could- no change. I put one foot on the trunk, and then another when it finally came loose, making me tumble backwards on the ground with a nine inch long knife bobbling in my hands.

Luckily, I escaped with all my fingers and the rest of me was undamaged; coming back to a standing position, I stared at the horrifically clean gash in the trunk, then turned slowly to face Halt and gave an embarrassed smile. He, of course, had an eyebrow raised, and started toward me.

I stood in my position and watched him pass me by, and continue on toward the tree. Putting his weathered hand on the hilt of my knife, I watched him smoothly remove it and approach me. We traded knives in silence.

Feeling more than a little embarrassed at my display, I trailed behind my mentor like puppy. While kicking at the dirt beneath my feet, Halt brought my thoughts back to the present.

"Watch," he said to me, and I lifted my head focusing on his clean movement of throwing the knife. Within a second, the blade was once again hilt-deep into the tree. "What did you see?" he asked me and I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes.

I opened them again. "What didn't I see?


	9. Bows and Connor

**A/N: First off, it it necessary I apologize profusely. It has been months since my last update and I have failed and taken advantage of my readers patience and loyalty. It shall never happen again (without a good reason of course).**

**Therefore I shall give you a review... time tends to erode memories. Not Aria's of course...**

****Hello All, I have just been told my transcriber that you haven't been kept up to date. I'm currently in the process of trying to find a new one... Anyways, here is what happened in the last chapter. Halt took me inside for a map lesson and as it turns out, he and I found that I have some pretty incredible memory skills. We were practicing knife throwing when my imbecile of a transcriber just decided to forget about this story I'm telling, and will now loose her job.

So, if this is too brief for you, I beg you to go back a entry and scan it over. The two do flow right into each other.

Now the story shall continue:

_-A_

**Before I can continue as promised though, I must give thanks to those who have reviewed thus far and Carma Bain Bentley who indirectly created this continuation.**

**Now, continue.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

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><p>"Explain," Halt demanded thoughtfully, and so I obliged.<p>

Closing my eyes again, I spouted off everything I saw. "I'll start with you feet." I told him, and continued with out waiting for acknowledgement. "You stepped forward with your left foot, being naturally right handed, of course. A small pebble wedged itself under your big toe, and the next step you take will be undoubtedly uncomfortable. Your right foot, on the other hand, only pivoted slightly, providing balance, and possibly adding a small amount of torque and extra strength- not that you need it.

"A mosquito bit through the hole in your leggings and you should probably feel a pinch about..." I waited a moment, "now," I finished and heard Halt slap his knee with annoyance, and he took a breath to speak, but I wasn't done. I cut him off, finally realizing my true potential. "Your stance contained bent knees, and your torso upright. Your left hand clenched slightly at your side as you threw, and your bent arm was about four inches away.

"Your actual throwing motion was the most peculiar of all, though. You made a simplified motion of throwing a ball, but as your right arm reached 11 o'clock, you snapped your wrist..." I broke off and clenched my hands frustratedly, unable to describe the motion. My eyes were still closed, making me jump when Halt lay a hand on my shoulder.

"Anything else?" he asked softly- it was a strange tone he used.

"Well, there was the bird, the squirrel, that's going to be dinner for the hawk...um, you don't care about that...Nope, I think that's it." I opened my eyes, and I glimpsed Halt's puzzled, expression before it suddenly cleared, then formed into something deeper and darker.

Confusion etched onto my features, before Halt finally noticed, saying, "What?"

"Nothing," I lied, and kicked at the dirt.

Halt paused a moment, before responding, "You're a terrible liar, Aria." He patted my shoulder again, walking inside, as I held my knife in my shaking hands.

* * *

><p>That evening I practiced with the bow, firing arrow after, arrow, after Halt gave me an example to follow. I wondered why I didn't have much success with the bow earlier, and convinced myself that I wasn't trying to remember how to. I shrugged the idea off, realizing that in truth, I was a terrible liar.<p>

Before the sun set, I saw Halt exit the stable with our two letters, and now a third. I wondered why he would bother to keep them there, and I realized he knew me better than I thought. I would peek.

"I'm going into town." Halt said gruffly, and I nodded, trying to fire another arrow into the trunk, which flopped onto the ground. I groaned in frustration, and Halt looked at me before saying simply, "It's not what you see, it's what you don't."

I was at a loss and utterly confused. "Focus on what's cut out of the picture," Halt said again, and blended into the trees, as he headed into Wensley Village.

* * *

><p>"'Focus on what's cut out of the picture,'" I mimicked in a deep voice and threw the bow on the ground.<p>

Almost in slow motion, I saw it bounce once...twice, and the hard wood finished was scratched- long and crooked. I inhaled slowly, and clenched my fists, then stooped low, and picked up the recurve bow.

"Halt is going to be mad at me," I said aloud, and ran my finger over the scratch, resigning to the ground.

* * *

><p>Rerunning Halt's example in my head, I stood once more, and tried again, and came up with the same pathetic outcome. In frustration I was determined to make this stupid, pathetic arrow fly father than the others. I nocked the arrow and pulled my shoulder-blades closer together, using the strength from my back, as well as my arms.<p>

With diminished hopes, I let the arrow fly, and to my utter and complete surprise, the arrowhead embedded itself in the trunk.

"Whooo!" I hollered and danced, making myself look like a complete idiot, but I didn't care. I was happy, and no one could see me- or so I thought.

"Someone seems a bit excited," came a sarcastic voice from the trees, and I jumped out of my skin.

"Who's there?" I yelled back stupidly, seeing the figure leaning against one of the many trees. I fumbled an arrow in my hands, trying to nock it.

"Me," the voice said again, and a boy emerged from the treeline. "I've been practicing some sneaking myself. Waddya think?"

"What do I think?" I repeated back to myself and to him. "I think you're crazy! What in the world are you doing down here? This area is reserved for Rangers- and their apprentices- only!"

"Practicing my sneaking," The boy said again, and I rose an eyebrow. Alright, now that I think about it, he was pretty cute. I mean, the way his uneven dirty blond hair fell in front of his brown eyes, was...quite attractive...to say the least. (And he had muscles! *squeals in excitement as Halt and Will shake their heads in disgust*)

"Get out of here," I replied with contempt, and turned back to my archery practice, sending another arrow into the center of the tree. The boy stood there for a moment watching me, and didn't move. Sighing, I turned back to him, and pointed my bow in his direction. "You shouldn't be here and you know it. Leave," I demanded, turned and walked into the house, leaving the boy standing in the distance. A few minutes later I heard him walk away, crunching on the leaves.

As soon as I was sure he was gone, I walked back outside, continuing with my practice.

* * *

><p>"I see you were able to figure out what I meant," Halt said abruptly, as he walked into the clearing, numerous packages in his hands.<p>

"Uh, yeah...Sure." I laughed nervously, and tried to subtly move the bow behind my back.

"Aria?" Halt questioned and moved smoothly to my side. "What did you do?" he asked suspiciously and I turned away from him, making my back face the copse of trees.

"Nothing!" I laughed again. "Just being my plain and lovely self. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"What's behind your back?" Halt asked again, a light humor in his eyes, with an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing!" I laughed again, a panicked smile crossing my face.

"You're a terrible liar, Aria," Halt said with a smile. My face clouded, and before I knew it, I was on my butt, sitting on a very sharp rock, on the ground, with my bow in Halt's hands.

Halt...was frowning-not a good sign, "How could you've scratched it already?" He asked, his suppressed anger heard in his voice.

"Well, you wouldn't believe what happened!" I started, the beginnings of a wild tale twisting itself out of my mouth. "There was...this bear! Yep...and it attacked me, then suddenly this boy threw himself in its path-which was me- and diverted its attention. So this kid..um, he led it into the trees, and I threw rocks at it, to keep it from attacking him. Then the bear got mad, and it started to come toward me. I held my bow out, as a brief form of protection, and the bear swiped its mighty paw at me..." By this point I was jumping around, acting out the whole thing, while Halt feigned interest, by adding false gasps. "It's claw scratched the finish on the bow, and the claw broke, so it ran away crying." I finished, adding a beaming smile at the end.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." Halt sighed, asking, "What happened to the boy?"

"The boy?" I parroted back.

"Yes, the boy! You mentioned a boy...What happened to him?"

"Oh! The boy!" I said again, pretending I didn't understand the question. I knew from the start Halt wouldn't buy any of this, but why should that stop me from pulling his leg? "Um, he went back up to the castle." I said, scratching my neck, not meeting his eyes.

"Are you sure?" Halt questioned falsely. "Are you sure he didn't stay for tea? And what bear in the world would cry when he breaks a nail? Tell me the truth, girl!"

I chuckled nervously, and shifted my feet, then scratched my neck again. "Well, I got kinda mad, and I kinda threw it."

"'Kinda mad? Kinda threw it?' Aria, there is a twelve inch scratch!"

"Yeah, well, it asked for it!" I replied defensively.

"It's a bow- a piece of wood, it can't ask for anything." Halt said, turned around and went into the cabin, a shadow crossing his face, while he shook his head.

The screen door slammed shut, and shortly after I was firing arrow, after arrow into the dead tree.

* * *

><p>For the rest of the week, I spent all my time with Halt, and what a bundle of joy that was. We reviewed maps, and he coached my knife throwing and corrected my archery. By the end, Halt declared my progress was suitable for my skills. I had absolutely no idea what that meant.<p>

* * *

><p>It was during lunch on Friday when Will arrived.<p>

We were sitting at the table eating a fabulously cooked meal of sandwiches-sausage on a roll- when Halt stopped suddenly, halfway through his sandwich, and sat discontentedly on his chair, leaning backwards on two legs. Halt frowned.

This expression had become very common for me...maybe too common...

"What?" I asked out of politeness, not really caring what the answer was, continuing to eat.

"Will," Halt replied shortly and I nodded out of false understanding. A moment later there was a knock on the door, and I looked at Halt with confusion. The timing indicated he predicted...no, not predicted, sensed, a knock on the door.

My mentor's thoughts were in a far off place, and I shoved the last few bites into my mouth, saying, "I'll get it!" Striding across the hardwood floor, I opened the door carelessly and saw no one. My confusion was etched on my face and it must've been apparent, for a split second later, little hands and little arms wrapped themselves around my legs and a little face buried itself into my tunic.

"Connor!" I heard someone call, and I vaguely recognized the voice.

"Will?" I called back hesitantly, and I dangled myself from the little boy, walking to the edge of the porch, leaning over the railing slightly. From there I saw Will hand over Tug to a pretty blond haired lady who had a second horse. She obviously knew where to put him. The little boy Connor reattached himself to my leg, and Will ran over to me, gingerly grabbing his sun.

"Sorry about that," he apologized and gave me a smile.

"Will, do you want me to rub Tug down?" the woman called from the small stable behind the house.

"No dear, I'll do it," Will called back, struggling to pick up his squirming son.

Halt then finally emerged from the house, a smile on his face, this one of happiness; it was a strange sight, but the expression didn't seem out of place at all, which made me think to reevaluate my opinion of Halt.

"Gwampa!" Connor called and leeched himself to Halt, who bent down and picked the boy up, spinning him around, captivated by his youthful presence. "I misses you!" Connor gurgled and hugged Halt's head, who chuckled slightly and put the little boy down saying:

"Why don't you find mommy and help her with Tug?"

"Okay gwampa." And with that, Connor waddled off.

"He is so cute!" I squealed and Halt gave me a look of utter distaste. "What?" I countered and his simply shook his head, turning his attention from me to his former apprentice. who was walking up the last few porch steps.

"I see you got my letter," Halt said to Will gruffly, his arms crossed against his arms crossed against his chest.

Will corrected, "Letters," and hugged his mentor, ignoring his "leave me alone" posture. Within a moment, Halt returned the hug. There was obviously more to this sour old man than I thought. Will turned his attention to me.

"Ah! Aria! Long time no see," he said with a wink. "You seem taller." He added to which I countered:

"Maybe you're just shorter."

"Hmmm," Will paused to consider it, measuring with his hand, his height against Halt's, who's back was toward us, and briefly replied. "Nope. I'm sure you're taller." I shrugged and realized I would never get the last word in with these Rangers.

For a moment more the two stood appraising me, and shifted my feet anxiously. I saw both Will and Halt flinch at the same time, and I rose an eyebrow. Halt led the way into the cabin, and Will followed, then stopped, his mouth open to say something, Will's gaze still on me. Halt shook his head ever so slightly, and Will shut his mouth quickly, walking back down the porch steps toward the small stable in the back of the house.

"What was that all about?" I asked Halt.

"Nothing of your concern," he replied swiftly, and walked inside. I let the screen door slam shut before following, letting the subject drop grudgingly.

"Now what?" I asked, walking into the sunlit room.

"Now..." Halt paused, "you get to make lunch again." Stifling a moan, I got all the supplies out of the cupboard and jogged to the side of the cabin, picking out a few pieces of sausage from the meat shack, when I heard little pattering footsteps behind me. Turning my head from the delicatessen meats, I saw Connor.

"Mommy said you not get s-s-sss..." The toddler broke off, and I smiled encouragingly, nodding slightly. "Ssss-ss," I opened my mouth to speak when he cut me off. "No! I don't want your help!"

"Okay," I replied hastily, and took a step backwards while Connor continued to struggle with the word clenching his fists.

"Sss-sauges!" the little boy finally finished, looking rather proud. I hid a smile and put down the link, taking his hand, leading Connor back to the house.

"There you are!" Will said heartily as I let the screen door slam shut.

"Yep!" I replied and released my grip as Connor ran to his father. A small fire flickered in the fireplace, adding unneeded warmth to the humid summer day, and already the house seemed cheerier due to our guests.

"Hello, I'm Alyss. Will's wife." The tall blond lady took no time at all to introduce herself. Tall and graceful, her presence was appealing and added up to an intriguing first impression.

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Mrs. Treaty," I said, down-casting my eyes vaguely recalling the few simple etiquette rules my mother managed to smash into my brain.

I heard a small laugh and heard Alyss looking at me with a smile. "Please Aria, that really isn't necessary. You call Will, Will."

"Touche," I replied to which the couple emitted another chuckle.

"Where are you staying?" Halt asked as he approached us from the open kitchen, bringing with him two cups of coffee to the couple, who accepted it with a nod of appreciative thanks.

Will took a sip before replying, "At that old Inn and Tavern. The one on the corner of Winchester and Beville."

"Ah, yes. I remember... Is Mary still in charge of the kitchen?" Halt asked as I took Will's mug to refill and I grabbed a mug for Halt.

"Nope. Geez, Halt. You need to get out more!" Will exclaimed, hiding a smile. "Susan took over because of the horrid bout of the flu that went around a few weeks ago- Mary is still recovering." He finished and took a sip of the coffee I brought back for him. Will made a face.

"Will!" Alyss scolded. "Don't be rude." Will just smiled and waved me over. I leaned forward and he whispered in my ear, "Honey...bottom shelf." I nodded and grinned, taking his mug back to the counter. I couldn't reach the shelf of course-even if it was the bottom one. I climbed easily onto the counter, and opened the cabinet. It's contents spilled out and I would've sworn that Halt had set it up to happen.

Dishes and jars fell and I caught most of them, but it was noisy enough to disrupt their conversation. Quickly, I put everything back into the cupboard and tried to ignore the stares-or in Halt's case, glare.

I spooned the honey into Will's mug and my own, and walked back to the table, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

I walked into the table. Obviously, the second most embarrassing thing I did that day. It scooted a couple inches across the floor as scalding coffee spilled out of the cup and ran down my fingers. I winced and bit my lip to prevent from crying out as my eyes watered. "Here's your coffee!" I gasped and falling the last available chair next to Will. I gave another pained smile and I saw Alyss try to hide a grin while Will rose an eyebrow; Halt rolled his eyes.

"So this is what we have to work with?" Will asked, now smiling fully.

"Yep," Halt replied. "Lord only knows what we've done to deserve this."

**I really don't deserve any reviews, but they would still be greatly appreciated.**


	10. What's Next?

**I can't believe I'm writing this again— not the chapter, this story. Actually I can believe it. Anyway life is rough at the moment (I'm a junior = colleges and tests, and parents. Bleh!) So I'm needing Aria. Honestly, I don't really care who reads this now, I'm writing for myself. But that doesn't mean others can't read it! (and review!) :)**

**Enjoy. I'll be updating whenever I get a chance.**

**~Raider**

Chapter 8

Will cleared his throat as he approached my back where I sat at the table, nursing my coffee as he retrieved his maps. Reaching over my shoulder, he laid the maps out in front of me, saying, "These are the maps you were using when you worked with Halt." He sat next to me and opened his mouth to say more but I cut him off, upset he had lied to me.

"What are you talking about? These maps are all wrong." I ran my palm over the parchment that had re-curled itself and flattened it out. "Halt's map had at least two more inches on the top, plus the scale is smaller than the one before." I said pointing it out, and pushed it to the side. This one isn't Halt's either." I scowled thoroughly disgusted. "Why would you lie about something so trivial?" I finished in a huff and slumped against the back of the chair, crossing my arms. Will looked up, over my shoulder, and I turned around wondering what, rather who, he was looking at. Halt met Will's eyes in a moment, and Will breathed a single word, "Whoa."

"Well, that's certainly interesting," Alyss said with a straight face, not even betraying an encouraging emotion. I sat at the table in my same seat and Will's wife stood diagonal from me. I bent my head, focusing on a knot in the table, trying to avoid her penetrating gaze. I glance up once, and fell victim to her powerful eyes. We stared at each other for a moment until she finally looked away to Halt. "Incredible," she spoke again and looked back at the copied map I drew for Halt. "And you say she simply drew this from memory?" Halt looked at me for a moment, and I glared at him, upset that he made me a spectacle. He gave a single nod, still looking at me, and for a some strange reason I felt a small feeling of cold realization slide down my spine.

I shuddered involuntarily, and Halt subtly raised an eyebrow before looking away. "Well this will be a special case indeed." Alyss finished coolly and turned to Connor whose little bottom wiggled as he burrowed under the large rug.

* * *

><p>"Do I seriously have to do this?" I asked Halt as he grabbed my recurve bow and quiver from their pegs and handed them to me. "Seriously, yes." Halt replied shortly and opened the door for me, allowing me to step out first. "This shouldn't be that big of a deal," Will said with a smirk, as he followed Alyss who held Connor. Alyss sat in one of the porch chairs as I stationed myself about thirty paces from the target. Fingering the scratch on my bow, I took a deep breath and asked,<p>

"How long?"

"Until I say." Halt said again and leaned against the porch banister staring off into the trees. Will looked at me and winked, then said, "Go." I sighed and removed an arrow from my quiver, nocking it slowly. "Please take more time," Halt said dryly,

"We're in no rush."

"All you had to do was ask..." I mumbled and drew the bowstring back quickly, feeling my shoulders clench together. I remembered the last time I saw Halt shoot a bow, trying to mimic his movements. I let the arrow fly and was very impressed.

My method worked! A thock echoed in the trees, and I smiled. The arrow may not have lodged itself in the bulls-eye, but it was still just outside the target range. I smiled, drew another arrow and shot, a thock echoed and I fired a few more times, each shot nearing closer and closer to the bulls-eye. I had one arrow left in my quiver, when Halt said, "Stop." I rose an eyebrow and relaxed from my stance- rather, Halt's.

"What now?" I muttered and tried to think of another activity Halt would want me to perform.

"Why don't you shoot one, Will? Just to show her how it's done..." Halt said, and I moved aside, to let Will shoot. Without command, he fired once, the arrow hitting exactly into the target. I frowned and concentrated on Will's movements recalling what he had done to make his arrow fly true. Focusing on his movements, I took the appropriate stance and drew the arrow, then fired. unconcerned with the fact i never waited for Halt's command, or for Will to move out of the way. The arrow soared through the air with a hiss and embedded itself in the tree about an inch higher that Will's. I nodded to myself happy with the drastic improvement. Hearing a sharp intake of breath, I looked over and saw a look of amazement quickly disappear from his face. Halt kindly stepped on his foot.

Will grunted sharply and silenced himself. "Aria, you are dismissed," Halt said in his quiet but firm manner and I looked at him with confusion. I rose an eyebrow, but walked up the porch steps when he gave me a look hard to explain. The face he made was pleading, but not. Halt would never had to plead for anything, but it was also reassuring. the kind of face that said, _Don't worry you haven't done anything wrong... yet_. As well as the face that said, "Quit your staring and get inside." I grinned and walked across the porch and into the house, stepping inside right next to the screen door hoping to listen in on whatever conversation they planned to have about me.

"She even walks like you!" I heard Will hiss, and I scowled, upset I had anything in common with the old grouch.

I could only imagine Halt's expression when he said, "Why don't we take a walk, so any apprentices don't listen in."

Alyss walked inside, staring down at me expectantly .I laughed nervously and moved away from the door, seeing Halt and Will walk into the woods. I moved to the kitchen counter and started to refill the coffee pot. Quickly it began to simmer and and boil on the rough wrought-iron stove.

"Why do they always have to talk about me?" I grumbled and Alyss grabbed a bug absentmindedly from Connor's hand as she rose an eyebrow.

"Do you honestly not know?" she asked and the statement caught me off guard. Of course I knew and I am almost positive Halt knew, too.

"No, I know," I replied strongly knowing my innocent, naive pretense wasn't fooling anybody-not even myself. "I know I have a good memory and can mimic almost anyone." I finished and moved into a chair imitating how Alyss was sitting, if she was surprised by it, it didn't show.

"You are also a visual learner and will be a huge asset to Araluen if you continue your training." she said to me and got up to pour a cup of coffee for herself.

"Why an asset?" I asked wanting to get the lowdown from someone who knew more about me than I did for once.

"You'll be able to remember information easily." She said shortly and took a sip of her coffee, then moved to pour some honey in it. "I remember at the Castle the books they would give us. They were thick, huge boring books, it is highly logical you would be able to memorize them all."

I gave Alyss a pained look, not wanting to have that kind of useless information crammed in my head. "But there are other people that can do that, right?" I asked.

"No," she said. "I've never met anybody else who is like you." Immediately I felt alienated and slightly freakish. "When did you find out?" She asked and I shrugged.

"A week ago, but that was only because Halt made me do all those exercises." I said, staring at Connor who was scooting around on his butt in circles.

"Any hint's from your childhood?"

"None, other than the fact I was able to read rather quickly. Anything else I did revolved around cleaning, and playing with my brothers...nothing of much importance." Alyss frowned thinking, and stared at her son, totally oblivious to his humorous and strange behavior.

"I need to talk with Halt..." she mumbled to herself, and we were quiet for a minute. "So what do you think of Halt?"

"Truthfully?" I asked with a grin.

"Are you implying that you wouldn't be otherwise?" She asked me raising an eyebrow, and I lowered my eyes, suitably chastised.

"No? Well, he's fun," I finished.

"Honestly?" Alyss asked.

"Are you implying I wouldn't be otherwise?" I asked raising an eyebrow and she smiled.

"Well, it takes most people some time to get used to Halt. Gilan thought for a short while during his apprenticeship Halt was the devil hired by his father, to rid his life of fun." Alyss told me and I laughed.

I replied, "I know he doesn't smile all that much, but he's clever and witty, and very sardonic. I love it, but is demeaning at the same time. He's like my mother- only grumpier. So I'm used to it, kind of." She nodded, thoughtfully, and stared out the window. I looked over at Connor, who had something in his hands.

"Watcha got there?" I asked him, and he payed me no attention continuing focus on what he was playing with. As I got closer, I saw a harmless spider in his hands, barely alive, and the little boy was pulling off it's legs with pleasure. "Connor!" I shrieked, and grabbed the spider from him, and ran outside, as the spider squirmed in misery in my hands. I set it in the dirt, and step on it once-hard, putting it out of its misery. "How could you?!" I asked the little boy as soon as I was back inside, I'm embarrassed to say I was close to tears. He of course paid no attention to me, and I sighed loudly. Alyss noticed the whole thing but said nothing to me.

Once I was sitting, she whispered, "If you can't handle that, will you ever be able to really use a weapon?" I shrunk in my chair, as the idea was driven home. Almost immediately I remembered first seeing Halt fire arrow after arrow into the tree, and then when I asked Lilly about her job, her life, a shadow had crossed her face, and right then for the first time, I realized I didn't want to hurt people. Another voice though spoke in my ear saying, _you may be hurting them, but you're saving us._ And that idea kept the wolves at bay. For a little while at least.

* * *

><p>"Aria?!" Will called into the house for the porch and I stood and left my position at the table, and headed outside, wary of whatever else he might have me do. "Oh there you are!" he exclaimed as I let the screen door slam shut.<p>

I answered with a short, "Yep." and looked at him waiting for some sort of an explanation.

"Alrighty, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to go inside and hid something, and you have to tell me what's missing.

"Ok," I sighed, and when Will took a step toward the door. "Wait, don't I get to see everything first?"

"Nope!" Will answered with a short smile. I sighed again, as he walked into the cabin, shut the screen door, and the oak door behind it, preventing me from looking in.

"I wasn't going to cheat!" I yelled through the door after him, and I heard a soft reply, "Better safe than sorry!"

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, and leaned against the door frame as I looked into the woods. The leaves now were just starting to turn, and I wanted to capture the essence of it all forever. "Ready!" I heard Will call from inside, and I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. "What's missing?" he asked, and I looked around the room. I saw Connor's blocks...one, two, there, four...I shut my eyes momentarily, no it couldn't be, that would be too easy. "One of Connor's blocks are missing," I called out and Will grinned and nodded, I could tell he enjoyed this game. I saw the table-chairs all still there, the rug, sink, dishes, knives, coffee pot. I closed my eyes and immediately saw the view of the cooking area. Yep, yep, still there...wait.

"Will," I moaned drawing his name out. Why hadn't I see it before? "What happened to my prototype?"

"Oh, that's what that was?" he replied. "You mean the sticks and twine and things?"

"Yeah." I said, throwing some sassyness into my reply.

"I threw it out."

"You what?!" I said with a shriek.  
>"It was cluttering up the counter, and it wasn't a very pretty thing to look at," Will said straight faced. "I would've made our lives so much easier! It was going to have a counterweight and a sluice and empty the water bucket slowly and drain into the sink." I moaned, and narrowed my eyes at Will.<p>

"Oh well," he said with a shrug.

"This game is stupid," I pouted, and turned to leave, choosing to end the game myself other than waiting for Will.

"Aria?" Will called after me, and I'm pretty sure Alyss rolled her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Away!"I said back, only turning around to mention, "Oh, and by the way there was a flower missing, you removed a log, took off your oakleaf, and moved the coffee pot to the other counter. Goodbye!" I said barely containing a smile.

I tromped down the porch only to hear Will mutter, "Ridiculous drama queen."

Standing on the porch steps, I bowed to the imaginary crowd below me with a flourish of my hand. And then a jarring sound caught my attention-someone was clapping. The figure emerged from the woods, and I realized it was Halt, who was mocking me. "Thanks Halt," I said sarcastically in response.

"Anytime," he muttered in reply, and waved me toward him. I jogged to where he was, and was surprised to see a second cloak in his hand.

"What's that?" I asked and Halt sighed and turned away from me. "Okay fine. It's a cloak like yours, all inked up and rubbed together," I said with smile and ran up beside him, when he stalked away. I leaned in closer, and looked to either side of us before whispering. "How you practice your magic." Halt turned, looked at me, and rose an eyebrow.

"And I thought we were a little too young for such childish antics," he said shaking his head as if it was a horrible breach of protocol for me to sink to the level of imagination of my littlest brother. Okay, so maybe it was- shoot me. I shrugged, and asked, "How do you use it?"

"Finally, a logical question," Halt muttered under his breath, and he said to me, "Maybe if you were to actually think before you speak, you wouldn't be considered such a fool." The statement caught me aback, but I shrugged it off.

"Eh," I replied, and Halt frowned at me before speaking.

"It's called camouflage, It blends into the surroundings, and if used properly, you can move unseen, walking unheard though, is what helps Rangers to be the stealth masters we are."

"Stealth masters?" I rose an eyebrow, and Halt only smirked in reply.

* * *

><p>Sorry peoples, this part here will be a it of a let down. News flash- you aren't Rangers. ("Neither are you!" "Be quiet Patrick! I'm and honorary Ranger! I still know how this stuff works!") So I can't tell you how Halt taught me to move unseen, sorry. There's a strict policy against it. Lilly even got into trouble when she started teaching us some basic stuff when she visited. I can't tell you how I attempted to move unseen, but know this...I'm sure I looked pretty idiotic. Halt's frown grew more pronounced, and finally he was fed up with me completely. "We're moving on," he said roughly to me while I was hugging a tree. ( "Shut up Will! I was attempting to "become one" with my surroundings.") I hid a smile, and it was wiped away almost as quickly. "Unheard movement," he spoke. And oh geez, my heart stopped. Remeber that one day in the woods? My ankles crack. There is no way I could walk silently.<p>

Again, I can't tell you how he told me to walk silently, but I do know this, I picked it up pretty fast, all you had to do was control your feet, but with unseen movement-that was an act of balancing your whole body. Either way, I had a feeling I was learning how to do it right, but there's an issue. Audibly, I was failing miserably. Like epic fail. And here's the kicker... (Did you get the pun?! Horace, Kicker...Actually, that's pretty bad. Eh.) Halt knew it. He knew I couldn't walk silently for the life of me. Every time I took a step, he flinched, as a resounding crack rung about the trees. Leading me away from the clearing he explained the next drill. Halt planned to lay a path, and I had to follow it, walking silently along it. I would be using my powers of observation, and hope to walk the distance silently. I turned and sat on the dried leaves, not daring to peak as Halt walked away.

"Honestly? Is that really your best effort? A squirrel could've done better, and they have complete disregard for everything." Halt popped up from behind me and growled. I was trying my best to follow his trail. Normally, no one would ever be able to find Halt, but he had to give me a few simple clues.

"At least I'm trying, Halt!" I stormed off of his path and leaned against a tree, muttering angrily.

"Trying?!" He questioned incredulously, and followed me. "I heard at least twelve sticks snap. Watch your footing!"

"My footing?!" I repeated. "I swear to cheese, I didn't step on a single stick!"

Halt raised one eyebrow, "Cheese?" He asked me.

I shrugged and replied, "Mom doesn't let me say anything else." Halt rolled his eyes and started to walk down the trail, he originally created for me.

"You're right." He said softly.

"Halt, I promise I didn't…" I told him, my voice rose in pitch. "Wait, what?"

"You…are…right." He pronounced each word slowly with care. We stood in silence for a few moments and I shifted my feet nervously when Halt yelled, "STOP!" I froze in place, after my initial jump. "Did you hear it?" He asked softly.

"Um, hear what?" I replied.

"The stick." Halt said curtly and glared at the forest floor. He gestured for me to move aside and I moved a few paces away.

He impatiently frowned, and I looked at the fallen foliage. "There isn't any stick." He said softly. I looked up at him... "It's you."

* * *

><p>I stood on the front porch to Halt's cabin, cowering as he yelled.<p>

"Why didn't you tell me?!" He asked loudly.

"Tell you what? There is nothing to tell." I lied, trying to sound convincing.

"Your ankles!" He erupted. I don't even think Will ever saw him this mad, much less Lilly. "Every time you move them, they sound like a bloody twig!" He continued to yell at me and paced back and forth, his hands clenching around his bow. I was afraid he was going to stick me with an arrow any moment.

"How long?" He asked quietly, suppressing further rage.

"Since forever." I replied downcast, tears welled in my eyes. Since the day in the forest, I recalled a few days from my childhood. I was able to vaguely pick up the sound. I guess I had simply blocked it out.

"Damn it all to hell!" Was his sharp reply and he went inside, leaving me on the porch, drowning in my sadness.

The screen door slammed closed on the porch, and uninvited the tears came.

**That was two chapters in one.**


	11. Wait There's More?

I paced the porch and with every cracking step I took, a memory flooded my mind- me, Halt, Will, I and in every one I saw Halt flinching. Halt _flinching._ I opened the screen door and charged inside, letting it bang shut behind me.

"You _knew!_" I shrieked and Connor darted behind Alyss. Halt stood at the wash-bin, his back facing me as he stared out the window drinking coffee. I took a step toward him and I saw Will flinch. "You knew, too!" I said to Will and he looked at the worn table. My breath came in ragged gasps and the words barely passed my lips. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't know," Will said, meeting my eyes.

_"Liar!_" I hissed.

Halt turned, and corrected Will. "We didn't know for sure," he said. "We suspected, but never_ knew."_

"I don't believe you," I said, and we looked each other in the eye.

"Why didn't _you_ tell me?" he asked, and I glanced away, and looked back almost as quickly.

"I didn't know," I whispered.

"You're a terrible liar, Aria," Halt replied, still trying to meet my eyes.

"What was I supposed to say? 'Dearest Halt, you see, I don't think I can be a Ranger because my ankles crack every time I walk, but please don't send me back because I'm completely useless.'" My voice cracked to match my feet, as I turned toward the door. The Ranger cloak I had around my shoulders, fell to the floor as I undid the clasp. "Thanks, but no," I breathed and left the cabin in as much of a hurry as when I came in.

The end.

Right?

No! What kind of "loyal" readers are you? Do you want it to be the end? As much as the idea saddens me, if you don't want to read this then don't. You'll just be missing out on the biggest chapter of inter-occupational cooperation Araluen has ever seen. But hey, if you don't want to then don't trouble yourselves, besides, you have yet to meet Patrick.

I sat in one of the oak trees and almost fell out-when Will climbed up next to me- out of sheer surprise. I bit my lip to conceal a shriek forming in my throat, and my arms wheeled backwards.

"Whoa!" he said and grabbed my shoulder. "We don't want that happening again." I nodded and glanced at him. He was looking through the leaves and into the setting sun. The light filtered through the foliage, showing that the leaves were just beginning to turn. Will stared for a moment more then looked away blinking multiple times before turning to me and saying, "I have a story for you." I put on my "ok-I'll-humor-you" face and Will looked away again.

"Once upon a time, in a kingdom just like this one, there was a boy, and a master. The boy was young, inexperienced, and impulsive. The master knew all these things, but still decided to train the boy, who he knew had talent, was dedicated, and a hard worker. One day though, the boy was taken to a far off kingdom. So you know what the master did?"

"He went after the boy."

"Wrong. He got himself exiled, _and then_ went after the boy. The master believed he would find the boy, and with help he did. The master was eventually accepted again, and the boy with him. Then the boy was presented with the highest honor and opportunity, and an offer to accept it."

"Did he?" I asked, Will was a good story teller.

"No. The boy stayed with the master, and the master with the boy.

"And they lived happily ever after?"

"I don't know, their story isn't over yet."

"Oh," I said and stared off into the sun.

"Let me tell you another story," Will said, and I nodded, not bother to look at him again. "Once upon a time in a kingdom just like this one, there was a master and a girl. The girl reminded the master of himself when he was young, but she had a mean streak. She was alone and hurt- the kind that goes so deep that the master could do nothing to stop the pain. The girl and the master fought, though there were periods of cheerfulness.

"Then one day, there was a journey that they both had to take-across the land and over the sea."

"Sounds far," I said and Will smiled.

"Very far. The girl came across many hardships, but she overcame them, and the master inside was very proud, but the master was very skilled at mentoring and he didn't tell her for a very long while. He was tough and always expected the best from her no matter what, following the example of his mentor before him.

"Then one day the girl was accepted with others of the master's kind. She didn't need the approval from her master. She knew she was strong and in that sense the pain was gone."

"And did _they_ live happily ever after?" I asked and Will smiled.

"I don't know, the story isn't over yet," he said, and I frowned.

"Can't you tell a story that has an ending?" I asked, but he only smiled in reply.

"You tell one," he said shortly and I paused a moment, thinking before saying, "Once upon a time, in a kingdom just like this one..."

"Of course."

I smirked before continuing, "There was a bird- a song bird in fact, dull and colored like dirt. The sparrow sang often and all the birds loved to hear the sparrow's song, but none knew who was singing. They praised the canary and the canary with his beautiful feathers accepted the praise eagerly. It wasn't very long until the sparrow found out.

"So what happened?" Will asked and I glanced at him, he was looking intently at me. I glanced away.

"The sparrow did nothing."

"Nothing?" he asked and I nodded. "Why?"

"The sparrow didn't care. All the sparrow wanted to do was sing. Recognition wasn't important to the sparrow," I paused a moment to think and Will jumped all over me- figuratively of course. "Is that the end? And you say my stories are bad."

"Shush!" I replied shortly glaring at him. "I'm thinking." He smiled. "And I never said your stories were bad," I added. "They just didn't have a proper ending."

The sun cast a shadow over Will's face and I couldn't see him smile. Looking back to the sun, I continued. "One day, while the sparrow was singing and the canary was flying about flaunting his feathers, a hawk flew overhead. The sparrow's song reached the hawk's ears. There was no thought of beauty, only dinner." I stopped when Will chuckled.

"Might we name this hawk Horace?" he asked.

I ignored him and started again. "The hawk saw the bright colored canary flying about, then WHAM! The canary became dinner."

"Serves him right. And then the sparrow lived happily ever after?"

"Nope." I said shortly and Will looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Days later," I continued, "The sparrow was hit, with a rock by a boy and his sling. The sparrow was dead." Will's jaw dropped. "The forest was silent for many days, but soon there was a soft chirping, a caw here and there, and whistling and the quick rush of leaves made up a symphony of sound. And by this testament, the sparrow was never forgotten."

We were both silent, I stared at the disappearing sun, and Will looked intently at me, before looking away. I shivered and tried to conceal a yawn. And I jumped when I felt a warm fabric draped around my shoulders. Without looking, I knew it was my cloak.

"_Aria, my girl, you will be remembered_," Will whispered into my ear, and left the tree just as the sun disappeared.

I wasn't ready to go back, I wasn't sure if I ever would be. So I walked...and walked...and walked some more, unprepared to sleep in a tree or on the ground. I walked away my sleep, and didn't care where I ended up. Therefore, I was surprised, when a horse's paddock came into view-and then a cabin, and lastly a stable. The grounds were worn, and I turned away to observe the sun's position. As soon as I turned back, I shrieked in surprise to find myself face to face with a horse. Only the wooden fence beams divided us, and it wasn't enough. I backed up quickly, and seemed to run into a brick wall. There was an _oomph!_ from the wall and then a laugh.

"Hahaha! Right you are Ranger! Always right, you are.." the man said, and I turned to find myself staring up at a slightly lemon shaped, and scraggly old man.

"Uh-uh-ummm.." I stuttered, and backed away from him- I backed into the horse. Turning around slowly, I came face to face with the horse, who happily snorted in my face. I wasn't going to know that though again, so I shriek, and backed up to the point where I fell on my butt.

"Aw! He likes you, girly! Go say hi to 'em." The man said, and I stared at him and the horse wide-eyed.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a bit surprised." I heard a sardonic voice say, and I turned to see Halt across the clearing.

"Uh-uh-ummmm," I stuttered, and the old guy, reached under my arms and pulled me to my feet. I gasped, and moved away from him quickly, now in the center of him, Halt and the horse.

"Is she 'urs?" the man asked, and I glanced at Halt.

"Sadly, yes," he said meeting my eyes, and nodded to me almost imperceptibly.

"Wat'r we waitin' fur? Let's go meet your horse!" The man passed in front of me and Halt gestured for me to follow him.

"Go on," Halt said. "There's no one better to teach you how to ride than old Bob."

"Ride?" I asked, still aghast at the situation.

"Yes. On a horse."

"No. Nononononono. No way." Halt rose an eyebrow.

"You will ride a horse. Rangers ride horses. All Rangers have a horse," he said, eyes narrowed, and as intimidated as I was, I stood firm.

"I will not ride a horse." Okay, so after the day before, I realized I wasn't a good place to bargain. The fact I was even here was a stroke of luck, and I could only take it as a good omen, that Halt said the word "Ranger" multiple times, but I would not ride a horse. You could threaten to kill me but I wouldn't ride one.

Can you blame me? One the same day not only was I bucked off a horse, I also came face to face to death. And you know what death looked like? Evan's horse. You remember Lilly's Journey and Evan's horse, Asad? The super big one? Yeah, that's death.

"You _will_ ride this horse," Halt growled, and moved forward toward me menacingly.

I backed away, resulting to begging, "_Please_, Halt! I'll do anything!"

"Anything?" He asked, but I was too slow to notice the smile forming on his lips.

"Yes! Anything!" I begged.

Old Bob walked over, and interrupted us. "Ranger? Should you put that girl down?" I was desperately grasping the top fence rail, and Halt was pulling my feet, trying to drag me into the paddock. Halt and I glanced over at Old Bob.

"No," Halt said shortly, and Old Bob shrugged, and turned to walk away. "Wait, Bob," Halt said, and he turned around. "Can you give me a hand here?" Old Bob looked once at me, and at Halt, then back to me. I gave him a pleading look.

"Sure," Old Bob simply, and walked toward the fence where my hands were.

"Please, _no_," I muttered, my eyes welling up.

"Sorry girly. I gotta do what there Ranger tells me." He glanced at me. "Why don't you wanna ride horses?" He asked, leaning on the fence oblivious to my struggling.

"Simple..." I groaned."In one day I was almost trampled, and then later, a horse threw me when I tried to board it.

"You mean 'mount' a horse," Ol' Bob corrected.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied, and grunted, while Halt yanked harder. Remember, I'm basically horizontal to the ground, three feet up, my hands grabbing the fence post and Halt pulling my feet.

"Horses are real nice," he said. " You've just gotta know 'ow to treat 'em right." My feelings of disbelief must have been evident on my face, because he winked at me, and grabbed my wrists, prying me from the fence.

"Are you sure it won't bite me?" I turned and asked Halt as he guarded the gate entrance. He rolled his eyes and I moved toward the horse that stood in front of me. The horse itself was rather beautiful, all brown and red together, a shade of auburn that matched my hair. Cream spots covered it's back, but I will never forget the gleam in his eye; there was a steely glint that intimidated me.

_Scaredy cat, _he said and I scowled.

"Am not!" I replied loudly in a defensive yet whiny tone. I missed the smile Halt and Old Bob shared behind my back. I was hooked, and they knew it.

"Do you want to ride him?" Halt asked.

I frowned and glared that them both. "No way!"

"_Scaredy cat,_ the horse said again.

"Nu-huh!"

_Prove it!_

"Fine!" I growled, and moved to throw my foot in the stirrup.

"Girly..." Old Bob warned.

I mounted and Halt smiled.

_Dang._

The day got progressively better from there, and thank goodness it did because I wouldn't have been able to handle it if it didn't.

The horse's name was Omega, and I found it appropriate considering the fact I almost met my end...again. I learned how to clean, repair and use Omega's tack, how to properly _mount_ the horse, as well as how to pay attention to his superior abilities and by the end of the day, I was exhausted.

Oh, and I found out where Halt went those first two days. As it turns out, he was here, dropping off his own horse, Abelard, so by the end of the day, we were both riding our horses back to the cabin, me on Omega, and Halt on Abelard.

_I'm faster than you,_ Omega said to Abelard, but the little horse snorted in disbelief.

_Prove it, _Abelard whinnied back, and Halt turned to look at me.

"It seems there is some unhealthy competition brewing, maybe I ought to crush it," he said, with a haughty air.

My eyes widened, and I swallowed nervously. He didn't bother to glance at me before spurring Abelard ahead, and without waiting for my command, Omega followed eagerly.

Before me, the forest blurred, and one tree turned into another, until Halt pulled Abelard to a stop. I followed Halt's lead, and searched for the reason as to why we halted suddenly. (Haha Halt, halted... You know I'm cool.)

There was thick black smoke weaving its way through the trees. Halt's eyes narrowed, and we rode swiftly in the direction of the cabin.

"What in the.." he muttered, and then I saw it. The cabin in flames. The smoke was the only thing that ensured the cabin was remaining, or else the fire wouldn't have had a source. The heat was intense, and Omega shied away from the heat.

"Will and Alyss?!" I yelled over the crackling, and Halt nodded. "They left late last night. They should be fine," he called back.

A spark jumped, and I saw it fall to the pile of leaves, dead due to the fall of autumn.

"Halt!" I yelled. His eyes widened, and he saw the pile catch.

"Ride to the town, and the castle," he replied. "We're going to need a lot of help to save this forest."

Omega must've sensed my urgency, for he ran like no other horse before him.

"Fire in the woods!" I bellowed and pointed to the smoke rising from the rising from the trees to all the people in the center of the village. Without waiting for any response, I galloped through the crossing streets, and over the bridge to the hill where the castle sat.

Redmont has huge gates before you can approach the castle itself, and here is where I ran into some trouble.

"What do you mean you won't let me in?!" I yelled at the guard, from atop Omega, but the guard wasn't threatened.

"Where is your leaf?" he asked, frowning. "Ranger wear their identification leaves. A cloak isn't enough."

"Are you kidding?" I asked seriously.

"No," he replied, and my jaw dropped while my blood pressure rised.

"ARE- YOU- BLIND?" I yelled spacing the words out and he leveled his spear, decided he had put up with this nuisance long enough. Omega backed up a pace, and I stood in the sturrips. "I just need to talk to the Baron." I reasoned hastily. "Oh and one other thing. THE FOREST IS ON FIRE!"

The guard glanced from me nervously to the woods, and sure enough smoke was rising from them the way a lantern does when lit.

"St-stay here," he stuttered and signaled to the other guards who opened the gates.

"First day on the job," I muttered to Omega who snorted in agreement. Within moments a whole regiment of soldiers were filing out the gate, and instead of swords and spears, they each carried a bucket, a shovel and a bag of sand.

I would be lying when I tell you that fire isn't wonderful, but I wouldn't be if I told that its near damn the hardest thing to put out in a forest of dead leaves. I don't even know how we put out, or even how I would go about explaining it. So I guess I'll start at the beginning.

Fire spreads quickly and large fires cannot be put out with buckets of water. They need to be smothered. So by the time we arrived, I led the horses or the men in the regemin, far away from the spreading flames, catching a glimpse of the smoldering ruins of the cabin. I tied the horses off and rode Omega back to the fire. I saw Halt with the rest of the men. Many men from the village, and all from the regimen the Baron sent, were digging a trench, and throwing sand and dirt onto the flames.

The ones who were digging were drenched in sweat, and though night was falling, the light given off still made it seem like midday. Every once in a while the breeze blew the smoke into our faces, but the work continued. I grabbed a shovel and helped alongside them, while a few switched jobs, from digging to water carrying.

As I said earlier, buckets of water don't put out the fire, though it can prevent it from spreading. Water was thrown onto leaves not yet burned, an Halt was directing the different crews. He glanced at me once, and returned to digging the trench.

The fire had spread from the cabin to the stable and to the half of the small clearing and 5 ft in every direction. Halt was taking a break. Even he knew the that no matter how urgent something is, anything can be accomplished with pacing. This, I would learn in time.

A wrinkle of pain lined his already worn face. I say a wrinkle simply because he wasn't one for showing any sense of outward emotion... at all. "How much longer?" I asked and he gave me a noncommittal shrug.

"Who knows? We'll never be able to put it out ourselves. All we need to do is simply contain it." Halt nodded once more at the efforts and walked back to the trench with his shovel.

I saw everything before it happened. Remember that tree I was firing at? The dead one? Well, as it turns out, dead trees burn extremely well, and once the trunk can no longer support the limbs, they fall, break, and ignite.

I was running, and thinking back on it, I don't even remember why. I just knew I had to. Halt was my destination, and he just happened to be walking under the tree at the time the main limb was breaking. Even the best Rangers cannot defeat Mother Nature.

I threw myself at my mentor, and crashed into him. Together we managed to fall safely out of harms way. The dead branch fell just a foot from my own.

I glanced at Halt and I'd say the look on his face was sincere- a thank you. I didn't need to respond, he'd already saved me.


	12. Chapter 12

The fire was put out eventually, and the forest was saved, though obviously the cabin and stable had burned to the ground, life went on.

"Were you the last one here?" Will asked Halt as we all walked through the ashes, looking for something, anything that would go to prove why the fire started.

"Yes," Halt said quietly and bent to pick up the disfigured coffee pot the now solely looked like some blob of metal. "I was the last. I put the kitchen fire out, and headed straight to Ol' Bob's." I glanced at Halt, and went back to kicking through the ash.

"Well something must've caused it," I reasoned and this time Halt glanced at me and rose an eyebrow.

"Once again Aria, you have managed to state the obvious," he said, and bent down to pick something up.

Dusted in black and grey ash, a silver sphere was all but disfigured. A small hole was in the middle, and there was a spot for a wick.

"What is that?" I asked, knowing that a Ranger's expertise in anything dangerous certainly would've been more useful than my explanation of an improper cross stitch technique.

"No idea," Halt muttered, and turned it over. I glance around the site, and within moment I spotted three more. I ran, picked them up and brought them back to Halt.

"These were where the kitchen and the bedrooms are," I said and placed them in Halt's hands.

"They're of the same make," he muttered and handed one to Will.

Will turned it over a few times before saying, "I wonder what Malcolm would think of this."

"Who's Malcolm?" I asked, and Will didn't bother looking at me when he answered.

"A Healer, up in Norgate fief who knows a lot about this kind of explosive stuff."

"Explosive?" I questioned. "Halt, your house didn't explode... did it?" I said, turning to my mentor.

"How would I know?" he said dryly. "I wasn't here to see it catch fire. In fact, if I recall correctly, I was trying to beat my apprentice in a race to Ol' Bob's. It isn't the easiest trek to run at night without a horse- too many trees."

I simply smiled.

* * *

><p>Due to the fire, Halt and I had moved into the castle. Oh, and for the record Will and Alyss, live on the outskirts of the fief. I heard from some others that they thought the Treatys lived in the cabin, but you can discount them as rumors. Even though Halt and Pauline lived in the castle, Halt uses the cabin to get out of the castle when his because his wife isn't there.<p>

Either way, we moved into the castle. Halt to his old suite, and me next door to the wards.

I was sitting on the floor of my suite reading over a book of tactics, glancing at a map from time to time. Halt wanted a demonstration of a variety of tactics by the end of the week, and I didn't want to be one to disappoint.

"Aria?" Will called as he walked into my room dodging clothes and strewn arrows.

"Hey Will," I said without looking up from my book, and made a marking on the map.

He nudged my book with his toe and said, "It's time you learned how to cook." I dropped my pencil, looking at him in confusion- any cooking experience I've had has ended in the smell of burning food and flames.  
>"What?"<p>

"You need to learn how to cook. Chef Chubb has given us an hour. Halt would've taught you, but I volunteered. I do generally know what I'm doing after all," Will finished and turned to the door beckoning me to follow.

"Generally?

"Generally." He glanced back at me and smiled.

* * *

><p>"Ok, now chop up the venison, and add it to the stew, with a snip of rosemary," Will said and I went to the cupboard to grab the supplies. He told me to grab other things too, and add them to the stew, but I doubt they helped the outcome.<p>

"Here you go," I said and gave him a bowl of my stew. Not even pausing to look at it skeptically, Will dove right in and spooned some into his mouth. I stood behind him watching carefully.

As soon as he tasted it, Will stood and sprinted to the trash barrel across the kitchen.

"Will?" I called as he spat it into the trash barrel. Will wiped his mouth on his sleeve and sagged in the chair at the table.

"That was the most vile thing I've ever tasted. What did you put in here?!" he asked, aghast.

"Everything you told me to," I replied, transferring the blame back onto his shoulders.

He replied, "There is no way, I've made this recipe hundreds of times and it's never turned out this way." Will walked toward the counter and picked up the sprig of parsley. "What's this?"

"Parsley?" I replied.

"I said rosemary."

"No, you said parsley."

"Rosemary."

"Parsley." I said, frowning, and Will rose an eyebrow. He turned instead to the counter, and picked up some celery. "What's this?!" he asked shrilly.

"Vegetables," I replied, wondering what else he had to criticise about my cooking.

"I said venison!" he yelled, and grabbed my cowl, dragging me to the doorway to the stairs.

"Will!" I protested."Let me go!"

"Fine!" he said sharply and I followed grudgingly him as he walked up the stairs to Halt's suite.

Will rapped on the door and entered the room without being bothered to let Halt open the door. Halt didn't bother to glance up as Will walked in.

"Halt, why couldn't you pick an apprentice who had an ounce of common sense," Will started.

"Like you were any better," I muttered and Will gestured for me to be quiet.

"She can't cook. She misunderstood every ingredient I told her to add. Be happy you didn't have to teach this girl how to cook! I puked," he finished quite elegantly.

Halt glanced up from his papers and frowned. He looked first at me then at Will. "What about coffee?"

"It was the first thing we made!" Will said sorrowfully. "Burned. Good coffee perfectly burned."

Halt frowned and looked a little alarmed. "We can't have that."

"I think we should send her into cook with Chef Chubb for an hour a day." Will said grimly.

"What?!" I shrieked. "He'll kill me! You haven't heard what the wards say about his ladle."

Will started to laugh. "Oh you'll be fine. My friend Jenny made it out alive," he paused for a minute thoughtfully. "But then again, she could cook," Will finished, and I sighed.

Halt finally set down his reports."That sounds like a fine plan. We can't have her killing us off while we're traveling. Aria," he finished. "Follow me."

* * *

><p>"Stop squeezing the bow," Halt critiqued, as I held my firing position after I already released the arrow. "Look at your knuckles. They're completely white!" I loosened my grip so I was basically supporting it with two fingers. "Fire another." I knocked my arrow, and drew, sighted, then released. "Aria!" Halt hissed from my right, and turned to face him. "Are you plucking a chicken?!" he asked me and I giggled at the idea.<p>

"What?" I asked.

"Are you plucking a chicken?" he repeated, and I stifled another smile and shook my head no. "Then stop plucking at the bow string," he concluded, and grabbed my hand, making each of my fingers relax from their still clenched position. "Fire another," he said and focusing on what Halt critiqued, and nocked another arrow. I drew it back, and gasped in pain as my shoulder tightened. Quickly, I released the arrow and wasn't surprised when it missed the target.

"What's wrong with you today? Where's your focus?" Halt sighed, and I shook my head in my own disappointment and rubbed my eyes. It was going to be a long, long day.

* * *

><p>"Bob and weave, weave and bob." I said to myself, and I rolled from one bush to another.<p>

"What are you doing?" I heard a voice and I jumped, looking into the tree above me.

"Bobbing and Weaving," I replied, not bothering to hide a smile. "Where's the other one? The other man wearing a cloak like me?" I asked, and the boy in the tree pointed to the other side of the clearing.

"Thanks!" I whispered and weaved and bobbed away.

As I approached where Will sat at one of the picnic tables, reading over some paperwork on the clear winter day.

"What are you doing?" Will asked as I lunged to throw my snowball at him.

I straightened and hid my ammo behind my back. I didn't reply and Will said, "You look like a bunny rabbit." I frowned.

"A Ranger is supposed to move _without_ being seen. You move like your trying to not be seen, but it makes you more obtrusive all the while!" Will sighed and shook his head and stood. "Do you see the that tree?" he asked, and I nodded. "And do you see the way the ground rolls to the tree?" I nodded again. "You have to glide with it. Move, yet stay stationary."

"That's not confusing..." I mumbled, and began to slide along the snow, keeping my spine straight. "Like this?" I whispered and he shook his head, then demonstrated. I glanced at him, and tried to mimic him.

"Better," Will commended, "Gilan is great at this, maybe he could show you a few things." And that was how the rest of the afternoon was spent.

* * *

><p>At the end of the week, Will left. He said he had been away from Alyss and Connor far too long, and I was getting along just fine with Halt. If Halt's constant critiquing and a lack of smiling meant I was getting along with him, I was a little worried.<p>

He rode off on Tug and Halt and I waved a goodbye, as he blended into the trees.

"Have you reviewed the tactics assignment I've given you?" he asked, after we stared after Will for a few moments. I nodded.

"What?" he asked.

"Yes, Halt." We walked back into the castle, and to my room. I had the paper with his instructions, a book Halt gave me and a few maps laid out on a simple wooden table. I sat at one end and Halt sat at the other. I turned the maps toward him and read off the instructions aloud. "Pictan soldiers have taken hold of Norgate fief. Their troops and that of Castle Caraway have met along the eastern border and have been fighting for several weeks in a tight infantry battle. You are in charge of the cavalry and have one trebuchet. Find a way to break the stalemate."

"What did you decide on doing?" he asked and I paused to grab a few things around my room. I put a comb along the boundary line.

"This will be the other Caraway lines." Halt rose an eyebrow, but I missed it as I turned to a side table, grabbing a biscuit and plopped it on the map, on top of Norgate fief.

"This is the Pictan army."

"Get your food off my map." Halt growled. I popped the biscuit into my mouth and put an extra arrowhead on the map that was laying on the floor.

"And this is my cavalry." I put the piece of charcoal on the map. Halt leaned back, preparing for the presentation I would give him. "Because the goal is to break the stalemate, I propose the calvary is driven northward through the lines." I moved the charcoal for the upper corner of the map, cutting the lines diagonally. "See, not only does it make a formidable gap, but the infantry can now advance and regain some territory, dispersing their numbers. If they follow close behind the cavalry," I added with my mouth full. Halt frowned.

"What do you think?" I asked him and he glanced at the map thoughtfully.

"I understand what you're trying to do," he said and I nodded, paying attention. "But you can do better. Start with the trebuchet. There is no room for it in your plan."

"How does a trebuchet help the calvary?" I wondered.

"Before you answer that, you have to know the job of a trebuchet. How does it help an army in general?"

"The trebuchet," I recited from memory. "Was originally developed in Gallica, hence the Gallic name and is better known in Araluen as the catapult. Used typically in siege, the trebuchet, works in accordance with a counter weight." Halt stopped me before I could continue.

"Skip ahead," he said, and I complied going forward through the book that Halt gave me-I had inadvertently memorized it.

"In battle, or rather, a siege, the offense and defense, use the trebuchet power, to break the walls, and split the armies into halves."

"Stop," Halt said.

"I get it now!" I exclaimed, and continued at Halt's risen eyebrow. With the horses, not only do we have extra horsepower, so we can launch quickly, but once the army is split in two, the cavalry can further widen the gap, and the Pictans, will be fighting two fronts rather than one," I elaborated, and Halt nodded.

"Now you understand," he told me and started to reach into a pocket. I nodded, and he pulled out a slip of parchment."This is another scenario, present your plan in an hour." Without waiting for a reply, he left the room.

I banged my head on the table, making the room resound with a solid _thunk._


	13. Chapter 13

We sat at the table in Halt's suite. He was writing a report, and I was reading the tactics book the Baron had loaned to Halt to loan to me. I jogged my legs up and down under the table, trying to disperse my nervous energy.

I turned a page.

Another.

"Would you stop that?" Halt finally said, slamming his report on the table.

"Stop what?" I said innocently, turning another page, trying to hide a smile.

"That ridiculous jittering!" he said and turned back to his report. My legs stopped bouncing.

A minute later Halt looked up. "Pauline's back," he said simply, set his report on the desk and walked out the door. I looked at him in confusion for a moment, then walked to the window.

Sure enough, a horse drawn carriage pulled through the gates, and Halt was waiting at the bottom steps of the main hall waiting for her.

I'll spare you the touching description of seeing Halt meet his wife, because such things are private and shall remain so. That is, until Halt gives me permission to show you what I wrote. Don't hold your breath.

I met Pauline, and I can honestly say she was the most beautiful lady I have ever met. She was older than my mother, but she had the grace and beauty that transcends years. The way she held herself simply made you want to sit taller and look someone in the eye.

After I introduced myself to Pauline, we arranged to meet that afternoon. It was understandable she wanted to unpack and rest after her long trip.

"Good afternoon, Aria," she said to me a little later that afternoon.

"Hullo," I replied, and shook her hand a little meekly. One of the servants brought tea to my room and we moved to sit at my small table by the window. She led the way to the table and I kicked my sleeping shift under the bed, out of sight.

I slid into my chair and scanned the room as Lady Pauline poured the tea, thankful that I at least made my bed that day.

I asked her some of the pleasantries my mother would ask the other town mothers whenever they made an infrequent visit to our house. "How was your trip?"

She looked at me, and set her tea cup down before replying. "The trip was long and tiring, as was the actual conference itself, but I believe good things will come from it," she sipped her tea, and I followed in her example, grimacing as it scalded my throat on the way down. She drank some more to pass the awkward silence that followed. We sat there for a few more moments.

I hid an alarmed look as my eyes burned with the strain of restraining pained tears. She only sipped on.

"How has your training been with Halt?" she asked and I gratefully sat my teacup down and answered her question.

"Well, it certainly hasn't been easy, but I've made progress," I said and she nodded.

Lady Pauline replied, "Yes, Halt says you have made great progress. He also mentioned another thing."

_Of course, _I thought. _Here it comes, the questions, the inspection, and strange debriefing. _Throughout our stay there, Halt had only told a few people about my strange talent and all had requested a meeting with me. I turned them down, then Halt told me that that isn't something you can do to the Baron of one of the largest fiefs.

"That's stupid!" I told him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Stupid isn't normally a word associated with the Baron either," he said, and I rolled my eyes, ignoring his last comment.

"What even make a pretense of making an appointment? He might as well order me there, because I don't want to go anyway."

"You're going," Halt replied sternly.

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Why?" I asked drawing the word out.

"Because I order you to."

I went.

I was silent, until Pauline continued. "Memories are really quite interesting," she said and I stifled a sigh. "I for instance, can't remember too much of my childhood, aside from my mother receiving a kitchen knife for her birthday. It's really a strange thing to remember." I nodded, staring into the dregs of my tea, wishing there was more to drink. "But if you don't want to talk about it I understand," she added in such a light tone I was immediately suspicious. I looked up.

"Or maybe you do," she said quizzically. I rose an eyebrow.

* * *

><p>We had been talking for an hour and a half. I don't even know how she got me started, but once she did, it was impossible to make me stop. I told her everything, from my meeting of Halt, at which she chuckled at me description of the grizzled Ranger, and gasped when told her about the tree.<p>

In fact, it was only when Halt knocked that I finally stopped.

"Don't go telling her about anything Courier related," he said, looking rather dapper, the moment I opened the oak door to my room.

"Why not?" I asked, he rose an eyebrow. "No really," I prodded, "Why?"

"Yes, tell us why, Halt," Lady Pauline said, now standing, her voice dangerously soft. I bet you my life savings and a loaf of bread that I saw Halt practically cower in fear. Well, maybe cowering is too harsh of a description, but he did look a little worried.

Halt only mumbled.

"What was that?" Lady Pauline asked.

"She'll want to go off and join you!" he growled.

"What's wrong with that?" I piped in.

"Because you can't!" The room went silent, at his unexpected outburst. Halt glared at us both, sighed, and walked out of the room, harshly closing the door behind him.

"That was interesting," I said, and Pauline nodded slowly saying, "Yes it was." We were silent for a moment, and Pauline was staring at the door. I glanced at her. "I must go. Thank you for your time." She showed herself out before I could even react, and I was staring dumbfounded at the door, now closed a second time.

I shrugged and pulled on my boots, deciding to infiltrate the kitchen before dinner. If my Ranger skills weren't useful for stealing cookies then they were completely and totally useless.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi readers, this story has been back up for a little while now, and it would be great to know what you guys are thinking. Shoot me a review when ya get to the bottom! Happy reading!**

**-Raider**

As it turns out, my skills were utterly and completely useless for Halt's next task. He had decided that I needed to be a lighter sleeper. On the road, and on missions, it's important to be prepared for anything that happens, even if it happens at 2 am.

The plan was for Halt to sneak into my room in the middle of the night and turn my room into a complete mess. If I woke up, he'd have to put everything back. However, if he succeeded in disrupting all my trunks and closet, I would spend the next morning putting everything away under his supervision (and a casual smirk) and would be behind in all my next lessons, which would result in punishments from my other teachers (Will and Chef Chub being among the least acceptable of tardiness.)

But I had a plan. Albeit it wasn't the smartest plan, but somethings you just have to learn as you go. The first night, I stayed up-the whole entire night, I sat on my floor, stayed close to the door, having my bow and knives nearby. It wasn't my intention to attack Halt if he came in my room, but he always stressed throughout my entire training, that it was very important for everything I learned to be used. No holding back, no softening blows. It wouldn't prepare me at all for the future.

But no matter how prepared I was for Halt to sneak in that night, he never did. Not only was I exhausted from lack of sleep, but I was mentally fried from my constant attention to any peculiar sound. I was exhausted the next morning. There wasn't enough coffee that I could drink to keep me attentive. Will would pinch me, every time my eyes stayed shut for more and 3 seconds, as I kept nodding off in his lecture. Chef Chub graciously distributed several ladle whacks. The other kitchen apprentices kept sneaking coffee my way, thankful that someone else was the subject of Chubb's abuse. I walked headfirst into Lady Pauline, and fell down the servant staircase. Nonetheless, I was determined to stay awake the next night as well. I was excused from lessons by 7 pm that evening. I don't even remember falling asleep.

The next morning I awoke to Halt's familiar rap on the door and saw every single thing I owned strewn all over the floor. Either Halt was very silent in upsetting my things, or I was in deep sleep.

"Come in," I moaned and Halt entered with a cup of coffee in his hand and a smirk on his face.

"Time to clean up!" he said, and I slowly got out of bed. Halt looked at the water clock on a table, and said, "You have 25 minutes to get everything picked up. With your display yesterday, you can't afford to fall behind another day."

With that said, I jumped out of bed, and organized my trunks as best I could. Although my cleaning that morning was a direct result of my heavy sleeping, I couldn't help but think that Halt was getting back at me for the messiness of my room the previous months.

Much to my relief was only 10 minutes late to the maths class that I attended with the wards. I started learning with them a few weeks ago, and the class could not've been easier. The tests all followed the same pattern and the problems were repeated from practices. I looked at a few pieces of material the instructor gave us and spouted off the answers without needing to write anything down. Thankfully, my morals are good, otherwise, I could've sold my knowledge to the other kids.

Maths was the only thing I learned with them. Halt had his own version of history he taught me-Ranger history. How we Rangers changed the course of history. Will loved teaching this to me, mostly because he could brag about Halt. However, Halt had his fair share of bragging about Will. Halt taught me the sciences that he learned from Malcolm. Chubb expelled me from his kitchen consistently. I rode down on Omega to train with Old Bob. Halt taught me tracking in the woods where the cabin once stood. Will taught me unseen movement and tried to teach me unheard movement, but that often ended in tears.

My lessons were not commonplace, I think that's why the kids from the ward avoided me- the clumsy girl learning the Ranger magic. That's what I was to them, I think. Although a few people were kind enough to smile when we passed in the corridors to call to me from a ways off and say hi.

I thrived on the letters Jake sent me, and couldn't hear enough about my family. I tried to write to Lilly once or twice, but after a letter or two, Halt told me not to bother, she moved around too often for her to ever get them.

So perhaps I was lonely of people my own age, but I also grew to know Halt better, and Will, Alyss and Pauline. Oh how I admired Pauline. There were a few times when Halt and Will would leave on business leaving me behind.

"You're leaving again, Halt?" I asked, over a private breakfast that morning between Halt, Pauline, and myself. "And you don't want me to come? Lilly went to Skandia as an apprentice! And you won't even let me leave the castle?" I took a breath to compose my shaky voice. "Did I do something wrong? I've been trying my best Halt!" Pauline put her hand on mine, and stopped the next sentence before it left my mouth. Thank goodness she did because it would've been embarrassing. _If I can't be a Ranger, then I can't be anything! _

"Its an upper level bureaucracy meeting. You wouldn't want to go. Halt's been trying to get out of it for weeks," she said.

"Oh," I paused and thought a moment, "But shouldn't I know how the Ranger bureaucracy works? I didn't even know there was one! I just thought we defended fiefs and such. Which I haven't had a chance to do either. Will's been covering all of that and won't even let me go with him." I stopped and there was a long silence. "What's going on, Halt? Won't you give me a chance?"

Halt swirled his coffee in the cup. "Aria, when we get back, I'll take one of Will's assignments and we can do some fieldwork."

"Ok." I said appeased, then thought a moment. "Wait 'we'? Who's 'we'?" Is Will going too?"

I noted a slight twitch of disappointment cross Halt's face. "Yes. Will's coming too. We'll be back by the end of the week."

"So no Ranger will be in the fief for a whole week? What if something happens?" I asked.

Halt sighed. "Rangers often leave their fiefs to go on a mission that takes them away from their fief. The Baron is aware and adapts to the situation."

"Ok." I breathed. Everything made sense. Almost. By this point my food was cold and I

was no longer hungry. "I'll leave and let you pack. What do you want me to do while you're gone?"

Pauline came in again, "Aria, You'll be with me." I nodded and left the room, shutting the

door behind me. I mimicked walking away from the door. Stepping hard, then lightly, lighter, and then stood still listening.

Halt said, "We almost had to tell her. The bureaucracy was a good cover, Pauline."

She scoffed. "You cannot lie, Halt O'Carrick."

"I can, too," he countered.

"Not to those who know you best," Pauline said. I could hear the smile in her voice. "You barely pulled it off. I know she knows something's up. She's a smart girl."

Halt sighed. "I know."

"But why haven't you taken her out in the field yet?" Pauline asked, and I found myself nodding my head.

"I just have this feeling. I don't think it's a good idea." I heard a chair squeak as Halt sat down.

"But why?" Pauline asked.

"I think.. I think it boils down to the fact that I'm worried she's going to be used."


End file.
